Queen of the Seas
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: It takes more than death to keep the Vongola or their closest allies down. Tsunami wakes up to an entirely new life filled with pirates, marines and a world on the verge of a massive war. More importantly she quickly discovers that she's not the only one. She's not about to let something like the World Government stop her from achieving her dream of being Pirate Queen.
1. Chapter 1

When the local bandit boss threatened Makino because Shanks wasn't around, Luffy saw red. It wasn't bodily harm that the bastards were threatening her with, all because she was trying to protect Luffy's life. No, that monster was threatening something far worse than a beating for a woman.

Half-remembered memories of a life before this came to mind. Of being strong enough to take down monsters or even convert them to their side mid-battle.

Luffy reached for that warm furry feeling that had always made her feel safe...and _pulled_. She would not let these monsters hurt Makino-nee.

Instead of fire though, there was a wave of _force_. It almost felt like pure will manifest, and she aimed every bit of it at the bandits. Memories of her previous life helped her to turn what could have been a blunt weapon into something far closer to a sword.

Everywhere around her the bandits...and a few odd villagers who were a bit too close...collapsed on the ground. As if gravity had suddenly asserted itself in greater pressures than before just around them.

"Luffy!"

Luffy turned to find Shanks, unaware that her eyes were going a brilliant orange the color of the sunset.

"Shanks!"

Shanks looked around at the scene before him, but his main focus was on Luffy. A kid he had taken for a fluffy bunny...with not a lot of sense. A fluffy bunny with Conqueror's Haki, and enough skill to awaken it at _seven_.

"What the hell happened? I thought something was going on when no one was there to great us at port, but this..."

Luffy scowled at the bandits.

"They threatened Makino-nee. They were going to hurt her really, really badly," said Luffy.

Makino couldn't quite meet Shanks eyes, but considering the reaction of the other villagers he could make a general guess what the bandits had threatened Makino with. Apparently Luffy was smarter than she looked if she knew how bad it was.

What concerned Shanks was the fact that Luffy had unlocked how to use Haki...and Conqueror's Haki at that. The fact she also had an instinctive ability to _control_ it to the point it didn't knock everyone out or reach past the general area of the square was nothing short of astounding. It had taken Roger three months before Shanks was allowed to use his outside of training.

The glowing sunset eyes though... that was something that only happened in the rarest of circumstances. It had only happened to Shanks _twice_ in his entire life, and both times had been during events so dire that it was more than life or death at stake.

The first time had been when the Marines were going to arrest him shortly after Roger's execution... when his very freedom was at stake during the bloodbath that happened immediately after.

The last time had been shortly before he became officially acknowledged as a Yonko.

Shanks bundled up Luffy and took her to the bar, where Makino fussed over her. She wasn't any worse from wear...just really sleepy. She curled up against Shanks lap without a care in the world.

Shanks looked at Benn. A silent agreement passed between them... there was no way they could leave as they had discussed. Not when Luffy had unlocked that so young. There was no telling the damage she could do untrained.

* * *

 _Three months later_

The feared red haired Yonko of the Grand Line twitched sporadically. How the hell was he supposed to stand up against _that_?!

Luffy was staring at him with her big brown eyes and her face was twitching...she looked every bit the cute, innocent little bunny he had always thought her to be ever since he met. She looked so adorable it was taking every ounce of will he had not to cave into her every whim.

Nearby Shanks could sense his crew torn between laughing their ass off at their big bad captain caving to a seven year old, or joining him.

Shanks caved first, and Luffy cheered.

"I'm almost terrified to find out how far she'll go as a pirate...if she wasn't so fluffy anyway," said Benn snorting.

"I'm going to be Pirate King!" said Luffy.

"Only boys can be kings," said Shanks absently. "You can still be the little bunny princess though."

Luffy scowled at him, before kicking him very hard in the shin. With armament Haki active.

Shanks swore, before he glared at her.

"Girls can be strong too! I can still kick your ass!" said Luffy.

"Girls shouldn't swear!" said Shanks scolding her, giving her a noogie.

Luffy tried to bite him, but Shanks avoided it with ease. He had far too much practice.

Shanks shared a look with Benn. It was time, not that he was happy about it. It was simply too dangerous to take Luffy with them.

Luffy seemed to sense something was different about today, because she drooped.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" she asked. It wasn't a question.

"We've spent too long here. If we don't go back a bunch of people will get ideas and cause trouble... or worse we'd draw too much attention on the village and you," said Shanks.

You could _feel_ Luffy's sadness, even if they kept a blank face. Shanks had to fight the urge to stay, it was that bad. Luffy had a way of growing on you to the point that you would follow her without hesitation.

It was like Conqueror's Haki radiated off her like an aura...much like it had Roger.

Shanks didn't want to leave, but he had to.

He took off his precious hat and put it on Luffy's head, startling the kid.

"When you become a great pirate, come find me on the Grand Line. You can give it back to me there," said Shanks.

"It's okay. Everyone leaves...it's something I've learned to deal with," said Luffy tiredly.

It broke Shanks' heart to hear her say that without hesitation.

"Who left you?" he asked.

"My father left me with gramps. Gramps left and said he would be back, but he never did. Now you're leaving too," said Luffy sadly.

Shanks looked at Benn helplessly.

"Luffy, do you know what a den den mushi is?" asked Benn.

She tilted her head.

"Isn't that the funny snail that talks?"

Shanks caught on to what Benn was hinting at.

Parting with one of their den den mushi that connected to the _Red Force_ was a good way to prove Shanks wasn't just abandoning her. It was a very expensive item, but for someone like Luffy, it was nothing. Especially if it meant that he could leave without regretting it after.

"You promise to call me?" asked Luffy, turning those big brown eyes on Shanks.

"Have I ever lied to you directly?" asked Shanks.

Luffy shook her head.

"Pirates aren't supposed to be nice people, but you are anyway," she said.

Shanks' lip twitched upward. He ruffled her hair as they started boarding. He could see her eyes welling up with tears.

He made sure to give her one last hug before getting on the ship, and turned away before she saw the fact he was close to tears as well. He had no doubts someone like Luffy would make it far. She reminded him too much of his old captain...the Pirate King Gol D. Roger himself...when he was alive.

She was still his little Bunny Princess (as he would forever think of her) though.

Something that would get him in a _lot_ of hot water with his favorite little rabbit years later, when they finally saw each other again.

* * *

Luffy stared at the angry little spitfire in front of her, and the only thing she could think of once Garp had basically dumped them in the woods together was...

"Xanxus?"

Ace stumbled from walking away from her, before turning to look at her properly. Even with the straw hat on her head, those eyes were unmistakable.

"Bunny trash?" he asked carefully. Luffy kicked him in the shin.

"I am not a bunny!"

Ace snorted.

"So even in this world you're still a fluffy brat," said Ace satisfied. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"You're the first one I've found," said Luffy, pouting at the fact that even in this life she was still considered 'fluffy'.

"Have you unlocked them yet? Your Flames I mean," asked Ace.

Luffy showed off the small ball of fire. It wasn't much, but it was better than what she could do when they first woke up.

Ace's grin was terrifying...if you weren't used to Xanxus that is.

"Bunny trash, we're going to get you up to Quality standards this time if it kills me."

Luffy didn't argue.

"I'll get Gramps to teach me those weird marine techniques. We're going to need all the advantage we can get when we head to the Grand Line later, if Shanks was any indication."

"He give you that hat?" asked Ace.

Luffy nodded, before pulling out a den den mushi.

Ace snorted. The bunny had learned from the best when it came to emotional blackmail.

It was only when they realized they still had to make it out the forest that they went back to the task at hand.

Luffy suddenly hugged Ace.

"I'm glad you're here, Ace-nii," she said.

Ace blushed, but said nothing. The bunny had no idea the effect she had on people.

That being said they kept up the ruse Ace couldn't stand her for a bit longer. No need to alert Garp what they were really planning.

Luffy and Ace could only feel relief when they found another familiar face half a year later. During that time Luffy had managed to trick Garp into teaching her the six techniques...which Ace quickly copied on the sly as well...and they had managed to at least get to a point they could hover with their flames.

For some reason it was rather difficult to train them, because most of the time it switched to Haki first.

His name was Sabo and he was part of the nobles that lived on the island. But he found their behavior so disgusting that he wanted nothing to do with them.

However he took _one_ look at Luffy before he beamed widely.

Luffy looked at him with disbelief, before an even wider smile appeared on her face.

"Dino-nii!"

"Tsu-chan!" said Sabo, hugging the stuffing out of her. He paused when he realized how 'squishy' she was.

Luffy grinned at him and pulled her face, making it stretch far more than it rightly should.

"I accidentally ate the Gum Gum fruit when Shanks visited about two years ago."

"Only you, little sister, could have that sort of luck," said Sabo exasperated.

"Have you figured out how to use flames yet, Bucking Horse?"

Sabo looked at Ace for a moment before he asked... "Xanxus?"

"Trash," he said back with a smirk, eyes glinting in challenge.

"Anyone..."

"Other than Xanxus and you, I haven't found anyone," said Luffy.

"In that case, no I haven't. I had no idea they were even here."

"Seems to translate to Haki first. Only comes out at great need," rumbled Ace.

Sabo perked up at that.

"On an unrelated note, the bunny seems to have become more scatterbrained and devious since she arrived. She managed to con a Yonko out of a snail," said Ace with great amusement. "She also has a marine hero wrapped around her fingers."

"Who?" asked Sabo with interest.

"She conned Shanks out of a den den mushi and she has Garp wrapped around her fingers to the point he'll teach her damn near anything," said Ace smugly.

Sabo cackled and wrapped his arms around Luffy, who pouted.

"I'm not scatterbrained."

"You're meat obsessed and you're still scrawny as hell. I don't know how you look that small when you eat more than you ever did in our last lives," countered Ace without hesitation. But he ruffled Luffy's hair fondly.

It didn't take much for the trio to become nigh inseperable as 'brothers'. Luffy hated the fact that female pirates had to go through so much crap before ANYONE took them seriously and long before puberty hit decided to hide her gender. As far as anyone needed to know, Monkey D. Luffy was a boy.

Garp certainly didn't care, though Makino despaired because she had so much fun putting Luffy into the cutest little dresses... and now thanks to Ace and Sabo the adorable little girl was swiftly turning into a total tomboy.


	2. Chapter 2

The day of the Gray Terminal Incident was something none of them would forget...because it only cemented the desire to become _pirates_ , as opposed to Marines. Garp knew deep down there was no going back, not after he had admitted as much that the culprits behind that hellish blaze or the ones who attacked Sabo for simply being in the same _area_ as them on his way off the island would receive no punishment. Not even a slap on the wrist.

Luffy was hit the hardest, then again the ten year old had worked her ass off to help people get out during the blaze. If Dadan hadn't managed to get her out of that house she might not have made it.

It took the combined efforts of Ace, Sabo, and surprisingly enough Shanks (via the Den Den Mushi he left her) to snap her out of the funk she had been in.

(Ace and Luffy were very, very glad Sabo still had his Sun flames, otherwise the damage done to his body from the attack by the Celestial Dragons could have very well killed him.)

Luffy, or rather "Tsunami" as she was once called, looked to Ace/Xanxus. Sabo had his expression set in a grim line, and he would forever carry those scars on his body from the attack.

"We need a plan," said Luffy. "I don't want to serve under anyone else...not when it means following the orders of someone who could be secretly siding with the World Government."

"I'm going to join the Revolution, once I find out where they are. We _need_ an inside man with them, especially considering what Garp told us about your father and why he handed you over to that crazy old bastard," said Sabo grimly.

Garp didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell when Luffy turned her big, watery eyes on him and asked why her father had abandoned her. Mostly because he had come clean already about Ace's parentage, so why should he keep silent on Luffy's?

Monkey D. Dragon was the name of Luffy's father this time around. Unlike before, he didn't try to 'pretend' he was a dutiful family man and had given his child up for a legitimate concern for her safety. Dragon mostly worked in the Grand Line, specifically the "New World", which was by far the most dangerous part of it.

Garp had taken Luffy to the East Blue, which was one of the safest seas and kept silent about her parentage. He also didn't take it too personally that Luffy now saw someone like Shanks as her actual father, rather than his son. He even trained her.

So while Luffy was a bit miffed that part of her personal history had been repeated, at least this time she could honestly claim that her father actually did give a damn about her and wasn't holding her back.

Whether they would get along when she _finally_ met the man was up for debate.

Seeing no argument from the other two, Sabo relaxed a little.

"So Luffy goes to become captain, Sabo will head to the Revolutionaries and try to act as our inside man when it comes to them and Dragon. I suppose I could try to become a captain too," said Ace.

Luffy shook her head.

"We need allies, and having two of us on the Grand Line would increase our chances of finding loyal ones. Besides, you always had the better luck finding bloodthirsty nutjobs willing to follow you to hell and back and turning them on your side," said Luffy cheekily. A sudden grin crossed her face. "How much you want to bet you end up as part of Whitebeard's crew?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Why would someone like _him_ want Roger's son on his ship as part of his crew?" scoffed Ace.

"Does that mean you're not willing to make a bet?" said Luffy.

Ace briefly had to wonder if Tsunami's bizarre luck in gambling carried over to this life as well. Then his pride got in the way and he agreed to a rather healthy bet of one million berries if he did join Whitebeard's crew as one of his "sons".

(If he had known that Tsunami had actually _read_ "One Piece" right up until they killed off Ace and everyone disappeared for a few years to train, he would have started swearing. Mostly because the "fluffy bunny" had managed to rig a bet against _him_ of all people.)

The trio's resolve solidified as a plan was made. Once Ace was old enough he would head straight to the Grand Line and pick up a crew along the way. Better to have both of them picking up allies for later than to scramble after the fact.

Though the idea of challenging Whitebeard was an intriguing one. He was openly curious how he would fare against the only man to match Gol D. Roger in his prime and who _might_ have an idea what One Piece actually looked like.

* * *

 _A few years later..._

When Sabo left (Garp was surprisingly "helpful"...once he finished beating the shit out of the three of them with his "Fist of Love"... with contacting Dragon and getting Sabo an 'in' with the Revolutionaries) Luffy had been upset but had managed to weather through it. She knew how important this was.

When it came Ace's turn to leave, however, it was another story.

It had taken every bit of willpower he had not to cave into those crying eyes and stay. He was the former Varia Boss! He would not give in to the Bunny Power!

He still slept badly until he found some Marines to beat the crap out of and managed to forget Luffy's expression. It took him _months_ before he could even remotely handle the idea of being away from his baby sister...much to the amusement of his crew who found his overprotective instincts beyond adorable, especially when he brought out a picture of Luffy who was firmly in her tomboy stage.

It wasn't until Ace found out about a certain adventure series written by the infamous Red Haired Yonko that his "guilt" was replaced by amusement and an eagerness to share some particularly embarassing blackmail.

(Luffy was going to be so peeved at Shanks when she found out about it.)

* * *

Luffy had to grin. It was _finally_ her turn, and not a minute too soon! Garp was already talking about her "settling down" with a nice Marine captain.

If and when she found someone to sleep with, it would be on her terms. And forget marriage...she refused to be stuck in the role of a trophy wife and pop out babies!

Even if Makino-nee despaired at her becoming such a tomboy. Dadan had found it highly amusing and had been the one to show Luffy all sorts of neat little tricks and tips to hide the fact she was a girl.

Which mostly boiled down to: wear loose shirts, bind your chest back as much as you could without losing the ability to breathe, speak in a deeper voice than normal (that had been the hardest part for Luffy, until she figured out how to adjust her vocal cords by using her Devil Fruit power...sometimes you just needed a bit of creative thinking!), and try to avoid public bathing.

Getting off the island was easy. What was a headache was realizing the hard way that the sea apparently screwed with her sense of direction something awful.

She didn't know if it was her Devil Fruit power or because she was naturally inclined to fire, but her normally good sense of direction was shot to hell within minutes. She knew this because she somehow managed to sail right into a freaking _whirlpool_ she knew perfectly well was there from the others who came to the island!

Considering she was very well versed in what happened in the beginning before the Grand Line (it was only after the "Skypiea arc" that her memory became fuzzy about the time line and the events that followed) she could only assume fate wanted her to follow the "original" route Luffy took until the deviations added up to the point new things happened.

Boring, but at least she wouldn't be caught off guard like her crew.

She had to admit, seeing Koby was hilarious and she already had a really, really devious idea with what to do with him. He wouldn't thank her for it, not yet anyway, but if he wanted to become a "great Marine" she could think of no one better to toughen the kid up than her grandfather.

* * *

Garp had to stare at the Den Den Mushi. While getting a call from Luffy wasn't that surprising...the little girl had managed to con _him_ out of his personal den den mushi number the same way she had Shanks, to the amusement of her brothers...the nature of the call was slightly surprising.

" _Gramps, I have a potential Marine here that might be worth your interest. He's young, hard working and is still dedicated to the Marines even after seeing the mess Morgan caused on the island he was_ supposed _to be in charge of. Never mind what that idiot son of his tried to pull. Koby's resolve to become a proper Marine like you hasn't wavered an inch, which makes me think he might survive your idea of 'training'."_

Garp was more than a little amused at his granddaughter's tone of voice when she said that. But it was the last part that still shook him to his core.

" _I just want you to know I forgive you for what you put us through. I know you did it because the rest of the World Government hates our fathers for who they are and hate us for being their children. You just wanted us to become strong before we stepped out into the big world, even if you were a poor example of a role model. Maybe someday you can stand with us when we change the world to something better."_

Garp had no doubt Luffy would rock the foundations of the world. Say what you would about that little girl, but once her resolve to do something was set there was nothing that would stop her from doing what she felt was necessary. She never chose the 'easy' way out, even if the right way was filled with countless hardships and pain.

It was a pity the Gray Terminal incident turned her against the Marines.

Though once he got a good look at this "Koby" that she recommended, Garp had to grin. He might not have gotten his granddaughter to join, but at least she had a good eye for talent. The boy was scrawny and not much to look at now, but if he could turn a fluffy bunny like Luffy into a proper fighter then the boy would either shape up or die trying.

He did have to sigh in exasperation when Koby (and pretty much every _other_ Marine within hearing) found out Luffy was actually a girl. Honestly, why did Ace and Sabo have to turn his adorable little granddaughter into such a tomboy?

* * *

 _Zoro POV..._

There was something decidedly _off_ about his new captain. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew there was something Luffy was hiding.

The teen reminded him of the sky. He was vast and inviting, able to accept anyone and anything from the fluffiest of clouds to the fiercest storms.

Luffy didn't laugh at his dream...instead he had merely chuckled and said that it only made sense that the future Pirate King have the greatest swordsman alive by his side as his first mate. The easy acceptance and the fact Luffy genuinely believed he could pull it off had made something warm blossom in Zoro's chest.

A warmth that had only grown the longer he spent around the crazy teenager who could navigate just fine on land but was hopelessly lost on the sea for some bizarre reason.

Zoro thought he imagined it, until he realized no, Luffy did have two "lumps" on his chest where they shouldn't be.

It took him several hours to get over the fact Luffy _might_ actually be a woman. Then he remembered Kuina and promptly shoved it into the same mental box he left all unimportant information.

So what if his captain was a girl? She was still hellishly strong and not afraid to back down from her beliefs, and that was good enough for him. He remembered the crap Kuina had gone through before her death, because she was a girl, and it was fairly obvious Luffy was just avoiding the unnessary headaches by hiding her gender.

And then he noticed the odd steaming when Luffy was splashed again. This time he was quick enough to confirm his captain was a woman.

"Are you steaming?"

"I don't like wet clothes," said Luffy, before flinching. "I mean..."

"Not my problem, so long as you're strong enough to be worth following," said Zoro flatly.

Luffy had an odd look on her face, before she beamed so brightly at him it was like staring into the sun. It was that bright and warm.

The warmth in his chest turned into a conflagration, seeping into his very bones. It was strange, but in the best of ways.

"Well since we're going to be stuck on the boat for a few days... how about I teach you a really useful power that would go really well with your sword training?"

Zoro sat up.

"I'm listening."

"They're called Dying Will Flames, though it goes hand in hand with learning a power known as Haki which is pretty much standard on the Grand Line..." said Luffy.

Zoro sat and _listened_. These Flames sounded ridiculously useful, even if he was having a hell of time bringing his out.

It wouldn't be until they reached the next island that he got anything...Luffy seemed to be ridiculously amused that he had green flames with light streaks of yellow. Or as she had put it, he was a "Lightning with a Sun secondary".

Apparently green allowed him to harden his body and his sword past their limits, while Sun would allow him to heal faster...or if he really wanted to be creative, to allow his body to move in ways it shouldn't.

The grin on Zoro's face when he figured out how to heal over what he considered _minor_ injuries in minutes with the yellow flame...well it was clear Luffy had made his day. Especially when Luffy commented that she had known someone so good that he literally trained himself day in and day out and when he finally stopped to rest he was a veritable powerhouse.

Zoro honestly hadn't known that muscles _needed_ to rest in order to build up strength. And that training for days at a time without stopping was actually keeping him from getting stronger.

Luffy didn't tell him to stop using such a ridiculous amount of weights when he trained...just that he took a few days off every once in a while to simply relax.

Though Zoro had to admit he laughed his ass off when he found out the reason Luffy hid her gender.

"Girl pirates are _never_ taken seriously until they topple a few major players or five. At most we're considered eye-candy and an easy lay, because what female pirate is going to care about their chastity while living on the seas with several men around her?" said Luffy grimacing. "And don't get me started on the fact that everyone I have contact with insists on calling me a bunny. It would be impossible to get any respect at this stage with that sort of thing hanging over my head."

Zoro snickered, before guffawing. Because now that Luffy mentioned it, she did have the strange aura of a "fluffy bunny" about her, even with the scar under her eye.

No wonder she hid the truth, if she had to live that sort of thing down.

He had the feeling Kuina would have loved meeting her.


	3. Chapter 3

Luffy had to cackle, there was no other word for it. The gaping expressions, the disbelieving choke from Nami, and the increasingly pissed off fury of the pirate in front of her made the smart ass remark entirely worth it.

She blamed Ace. He was a master of being an asshole and he happily shared several tricks to make her enemies lose their cool and open up all sorts of weaknesses.

So yeah, she felt perfectly justified when she loudly asked the idiot wearing clown make-up and even the big red nose...

"Hey, aren't you the dumbass who swallowed a devil fruit whole because you were stupid enough to use your mouth as a hiding place?"

Buggy looked pissed.

"How the fuck do you know about that?!" he demanded.

Luffy grinned.

"Shishishi. Shanks told me the story. You were trying to be all sneaky about a devil fruit and he came up behind you with a message from another crew member, and you ended up swallowing it whole...then you stupidly tried to go after a treasure map you had that flew off the ship, despite the fact you were a new devil fruit user and he had to save you," said Luffy snickering.

Nami found it pretty damn telling Buggy didn't deny such a ridiculous story. She had to admit the word "dumbass" was pretty appropriate for anyone to do something that stupid.

Seriously, who thought hiding a _devil fruit_ of all things in your mouth was a brilliant idea?!

Luffy's eyes gleamed with a look Nami was quickly learning to associate with mischief, chaos and all around headaches for those who liked to cling to their sanity.

Buggy looked pretty damn murderous...which was why he was thrown for a loop when Luffy then asked "So do you want to call him up and yell at him through his almost certain hangover?"

"Excuse me?"

"I know Shanks' schedule by this point. He's either drunk, about to become drunk, or suffering through a hangover. At this time of day and the general date, I'd say it's the last one," said Luffy cheekily.

"How exactly am I supposed to 'call him up' when he's in the middle of the Grand Line?!" demanded Buggy.

Luffy took off the straw hat...and pulled out a den den mushi.

"I am the _master_ of emotional blackmail," said Luffy proudly. She poked at the snail and you could hear the familiar sound of a large number of people suffering from nasty hangovers, and the second Buggy heard Shanks' voice a nasty smirk came across his face.

Maybe he wouldn't kill the little shit just yet. Not when she provided such fantastic entertainment/petty revenge on someone he couldn't stand.

Everyone was so busy watching Buggy tear into Shanks at a very loud voice (thus causing untold mayhem on the Red Force until someone finally managed to shut the damn thing up) that no one saw Luffy take a few hair pins that she generally used to keep her hair out of her face and pick the lock.

Except Nami of course, who approved of the trick. She realized the ploy for what it was...Luffy had gotten Buggy pissed off and not thinking clearly, then redirected his attention to an older target while the pirate picked the lock on the cage Nami had gotten them trapped in.

"Nice one," she said approvingly.

"Shishishi... Ace made very sure I knew all sorts of underhanded tricks to get out of sticky situations," said Luffy proudly. Then she scowled. "Though if he calls my ability to convince practically anyone into following me with a pout 'Bunny Power' again I'm going to punch his lights out."

Nami snorted, until she realized Luffy wasn't laughing. Then she snickered.

"Seriously? He calls it 'bunny power'?"

Luffy stopped, turned to look at Nami and then unleashed one of the most devastating weapons in her arsenal. The 'Pout', complete with big watery eyes.

Nami went stock still and gaped in disbelief.

"How are you doing that? Even I feel like caving in to that look!" she demanded in bafflement.

Because even with that scar on her face, Luffy looked like such a cute little bunny that Nami just wanted to give in to their demands and cuddle with them, just to make the 'sad' look disappear.

Luffy snickered again.

Nami had to stare when she saw the _Marine-issued_ camera in Luffy's hands, taking multiple pictures of Buggy's current state.

"Where did you get that?" she demanded.

Because that was a top of the line, Marine-only camera that wasn't even available to the Marines on the East Blue! In fact from what she found out only those stationed in the Grand Line were even allowed to have one because they were so expensive!

Luffy smirked.

"Gramps gave it to me for my birthday," said Luffy, as if that explained everything.

Nami stared at Luffy.

"Your grandfather gave that to you. For your birthday," said Nami disbelief clear in her voice.

Luffy suddenly scowled at the memory.

"It was a bribe, one that I'm still debating on whether the price I paid was worth it."

Luffy _despised_ wearing full dresses. She could tolerate skirts for a time and other feminine clothing, but she _hated_ dresses. They were nearly impossible to fight in and they looked ridiculous.

Garp pretty much held the birthday present hostage until she got into one that actually suited her. The only reason he even came that year was because it was shortly after Ace left to become a pirate of his own right. Luffy had been so depressed about the whole thing that he decided to cheer her up...and hoped that she would at least lighten up on her tomboy image.

The camera had been a last stage prototype when Garp gave it to her, but was now standard issue for the Marines. Apparently she acted as a 'test subject' for the new cameras and Garp figured if they could survive her, then they could survive damn near anything.

He was right, in several ways. The previous cameras he had given her all ended up broken after a year or two of heavy use.

"Who exactly is your grandfather?" asked Nami slowly.

Luffy blinked at her.

"My full name is Monkey D. Luffy. I would have thought it would be obvious who my Gramps is..." Luffy said equally slow.

Nami stared at the other teen.

"There is no way your grandfather is Monkey D. Garp, the Marine hero," said Nami.

"Yup," said Luffy, as if it were obvious.

Nami looked really unhappy learning Garp had been in the East Blue. If that was true then why didn't he help her village?

Luffy saw the expression on her face, and decided to clarify something.

"You're one of the poor bastards blackmailed into helping that jerk Arlong, aren't you?" Luffy asked.

Nami went rigid with shock and stared at Luffy wide-eyed.

"I read bounty posters out of boredom. Almost decided to try that until I realized it just put me in close proximity to the Marines on a regular basis," explained Luffy.

Nami was shaking.

"To be fair, he was only in the East Blue for a month, and it's _really_ unlikely he would be allowed to interfere with anything Arlong is doing."

"Why?!" demanded Nami, angry and feeling betrayed.

"Arlong is a former member of Jinbei's crew. Odd's are his former captain is the reason none of the Marines have intervened, that and some are just corrupt assholes who he almost certainly has in his pocket," said Luffy.

"Who's Jinbei?" asked Zoro.

"One of the Seven Warlords endorsed by the World Government, like Mihawk. He's a known ally of Whitebeard and a fishman," said Luffy shrugging.

Seeing the looks the two were giving her, Luffy looked sheepish.

"I may or may not have found a way to hijack a den den mushi to only receive, rather than do both. You tend to learn a lot if you don't mind simply listening to boring chatter...that and Gramps thought it was a 'great' idea to let me see what life on a Marine ship was like last year in an attempt to convince me to join. He really shouldn't have left me in his office with the filing cabinet. I almost finished the entire thing before he nearly busted me reading them," admitted Luffy.

Which was partly true, but also because she remembered a lot from what she read in the manga. Most of the detailed stuff came from her raiding the cabinet though. The manga only provided general information.

Nami was _not_ happy hearing this.

"Luffy, is there any way to contact your grandfather?"

"He's already on the Grand Line by this point. The Marines don't want him _anywhere_ near the East Blue, let alone the area Arlong is in. Especially considering his reaction to the Gray Terminal incident. They don't want him to go rogue, considering he nearly dropped his commission when he found out what happened," said Luffy, shaking her head.

"Gray Terminal?" asked Zoro.

Luffy's face went dark.

"The _nobles_ ," Luffy spat out the word like a curse, "Thought it was a _brilliant_ idea to set the slums of the Gray Terminal on fire all because a Celestial Dragon was visiting. The didn't even get a slap on the wrist for it, or even a reprimand. If Dadan hadn't gotten there in time I would have died trapped in a burning house because I was helping to evacuate the people there. Gramps was furious that the Marines were ordered not to help the civilians."

"How old were you when this happened?" asked Nami. She vaguely remembered reading about that.

"Ten, maybe ten and a half?" said Luffy. "It's amazing how quickly people will follow the orders of a ten year old when the world is going to hell and they're the only ones displaying any sense of common sense and rational thinking."

That and Luffy might have cheated a bit using Sky Charisma to get people to move their ass out of the danger zone.

Only a little though.

Nami and Zoro had to stare at the younger teen.

"How old are you again?" asked Nami slowly.

"Seventeen, why?" asked Luffy, curious.

Nami muttered uncharitable things under her breath. Likely at the news someone like Garp was in the area regularly and did nothing for her village.

Luffy gently touched Nami's shoulder, and she could see the other girl trying not to cry from frustration.

"Gramps can't do anything about that overgrown sushi platter, but there's nothing to stop a _pirate_ from kicking his ass. Gramps put me through hell for over ten years in training, plus he'll never see me coming."

"I seriously doubt your 'pout' would work on Arlong," said Nami dryly.

"Who said anything about using my pout on him?" said Luffy baffled. "I was mostly planning to kick his ass and serve him up as shark fin soup."

Nami clearly didn't believe a bit of it, but Luffy was stubborn. Once she set her mind to something nothing would get in her way.

Now, to go get Usopp and the Merry. Luffy was really looking forward to that the second she realized she was following the same canon plotline with a few minor deviations thanks to her original memories.

Best of all she came armed with the perfect blackmail against that ass Kuro for what he almost did to Usopp's little friend. It was one thing to give up pirating, but another thing entirely to try and kill off your entire crew just because you didn't want your old name coming back!

Rather hard to claim your innocence when someone came armed with an old bounty photo that still looks like you.

* * *

Luffy grinned when she saw "Captain Usopp". He looked even more ridiculous in real life than he did in the book.

"Shishishishi... I'm sure Yasopp will be thrilled to hear that his son is so eager to become a pirate," said Luffy loud enough for Usopp to hear.

"You know my dad?" said Usopp with a look on his face that Luffy knew too well.

"Know him? He never shuts up about his son that he left behind in the East Blue!" said Luffy. "The rest of the crew learned to tune him out years ago, but he still goes on and on about his 'little Usopp' despite the fact he didn't get to hold you more than once or twice before they had to leave for the Grand Line."

Seeing hope bloom on Usopp's face was rather painful. Somehow the braggart could tell Luffy wasn't lying about knowing Yasopp.

"Where is he?" asked Usopp.

"On the _Red Force_ , serving under the Yonko Red Haired Shanks. Last I heard they were still in what is known as the 'New World' which is the more dangerous half of the Grand Line."

Boy, was Shanks annoyed with her for giving _Buggy_ of all people a chance to use the snail. The mock fight they had about her using _him_ as a distraction to avoid getting hit by one of Buggy's special cannon balls had Nami and Zoro laughing from the side lines at the childish way Shanks acted to Luffy's 'grand master plan' to escape the situation.

Apparently she had timed that particular prank _perfectly_. Nearly everyone on the _Red Force_ , especially Shanks, had a nasty hangover from a three-day bender they had been on.

(On an unrelated note, Buggy had found it hilarious that he got to pull something like that on Shanks, once he got over the asskicking Luffy gave him. He almost didn't hate the brat for beating him since he got to make Shanks miserable. Almost.)

Luffy waited for Usopp to get back from talking to his childhood friend before she held up her snail.

"Is that a den den mushi?"

"Yup," she said. She nudged it awake and it connected to the _Red Force_ like always.

" _Luffy, if this is another one of your pranks..."_ warned Shanks.

"Is Yasopp there?" asked Luffy.

The snail blinked, then you could hear Shanks yell for the sniper. Clearly he had a good idea why Luffy was asking for him.

The 'almost' reunion of Yasopp and Usopp was tearjerking. It would have been even more dramatic if they had actually been face to face, but Usopp would take what he could get. Being able to actually _speak_ with his father was major for him, because he only had half-remembered stories of the man to work with until now.

Either way, Luffy knew once this mess was cleared up that she had more or less secured Usopp as a new crew member. If for no other reason than she planned to track down Shanks at some point, which meant he would be able to meet Yasopp properly.

She had to smirk wickedly when Captain Kuro's big plan to rob Kaya of her fortune was ruined because Luffy just 'happened' to have the man's last bounty poster with her.

The second Kaya saw that, and the fact she was quick enough to catch the ugly look on her "butler's" face when he realized what she had in her hands thanks to Usopp, any chance he had of actually getting her money died.

After all, it wouldn't take much for Luffy to just _happen_ to spread copies of that same poster around the village so they knew exactly who and what he was.


	4. Chapter 4

"Shishishishi... serves you right for being a bad captain. If you were a real pirate you never would have tried to kill your crew over something so stupid!" said Luffy.

Usopp stared at the downed bodies, then at Luffy. He wasn't the only one. The second the other captain tried to kill his crew, he found himself on the wrong end of a very pissed off Luffy. Unlike before, when Luffy used his devil fruit powers, he seemed to take Kuro's actions very personally and kicked his ass using what looked like almost straight martial arts.

Zoro was looking particularly eager to spar with his captain now. He had acknowledged Luffy as "strong enough to follow" before, but he never thought to tack on "skilled enough to train with".

"How the hell did you _do_ that?! I've never even seen half those moves!" said Nami gaping.

"Shishishishi... Practice and a pair of brothers all too happy to insure I don't get my ass kicked in the real world because they were too busy doing it themselves. That and Gramp's hell training," shuddered Luffy.

Luffy had mastered the six techniques, but she didn't like using them because she preferred to have an ace in the hole. Something her brothers agreed with, even if they were just as quick to master it.

Garp had been so surprised when the first thing they managed to master was the ability to practically fly in the air... though not as shocked as the day he realized Luffy was an absolute _demon_ when it came to martial arts.

Ace was very partial to guns, Sabo for some strange reason had a knack for using a whip, but Luffy? Give her a weapon and it was a hit or miss. Luffy on the other hand excelled in straight hand to hand, which was why she didn't complain overly much when Garp had some of his men teach her what they knew about the subject.

On the plus side, Luffy could now honestly claim to be a "black belt" in bar fighting, much to the laughter of Ace and Sabo.

Luffy noticed the expression Zoro had on his face and snickered.

"Shishishi. If you find us a decent clearing I'll spar with you for a bit," said Luffy. "Or we could see if Nami knows any empty islands nearby. You've been around the East Blue, so surely there has to be some right?"

Nami blinked.

"I know of two within range, but we still need a ship," said Nami.

"I can help with that! It's the least I can do!" said Kaya happily.

She was rather happy the _Merry Go_ was going to have one last adventure, and at least this way she could thank the people who saved her properly!

Luffy grinned broadly when she saw the ship. This was something she had been anticipating since she realized she was following the original storyline.

To say the play fight between Zoro and Luffy shocked the rest of the crew was an understatement. Zoro had a rather interesting gleam in his eyes when he realized how much Luffy tended to hold back in her fights, though it was nothing to what Nami had in her own expression before she hid it.

There was hope in her eyes, hope that maybe Luffy would be able to handle Arlong, who had been her personal nightmare for over a decade.

Though the crew _was_ highly baffled by the fact that the _Merry Go_ had a working freezer. Nami was adamant about the fact that the ship was too old for it to be there and it didn't look like anyone had done any modifications. And yet there it was, plain as day next to the galley where the food could be cooked.

Nami had been around freezers before and had to wonder where Kaya found one that was completely silent. And how much it had cost.

(Luffy would snicker knowingly. If she had known something as simple as a freezer would cause this much confusion among them she would have made it appear overnight, rather than when they were simply exploring the ship. Zero Point Breakthrough was a really useful technique, if you didn't mind being creative about it...besides, she _needed_ her ice cream!)

* * *

 _A few days later..._

"For the last time we are _not_ adding bunny ears!" shouted Luffy.

"But Shanks and dad both agreed that it suits you! In fact they were rather adamant about it!" said Usopp.

Luffy glared at him annoyed.

"Straw Hat pirates, not the 'Bunny Pirates'."

"I have to agree...there's no way anyone would take the 'Bunny Pirates' seriously," said Zoro, Nami nodding next to him.

"Thank you!" said Luffy. "Now I was thinking something like this for our flag..."

Her skills at drawing sucked, but it got the point across. At least she could appreciate the now familiar skull and bones wearing her straw hat. It had never meant anything before, but now?

Now she wouldn't trade it for the world.

The smell of something heavenly wafted across the ship, and drew the crew into the galley.

Nami, Zoro and Usopp all fully expected Luffy to be there eating already...none of them anticipated it being the captain who was cooking.

"Morning! Shishishi."

"Why are you wearing an apron?" asked Zoro, because he had to know.

"You can cook?!" said Nami in shock. She thought Luffy knew only how to eat!

"One, it's to keep any splatter from the food or the oil from getting on my shirt. And of course I know how to cook! There's no telling when we're going to get a proper chef and I'm not about to subject myself to someone's idea of food when they can barely boil water!" said Luffy indignant.

Makino had latched onto any chance to pass on feminine skills to Luffy. Cooking had been one of the few things they had agreed on that Luffy would agree to without complaint.

The fact it was also one of the few things Garp wouldn't drag her ass out for his hell training as the three called it was a nice bonus.

Seeing the trepidation on the faces of her crew, Luffy snickered.

"Dig in!"

Nami was the first to give it a try, and the surprised expression on her face made it entirely worth it. This was better than some of the food she had in five-star restaurants!

Zoro was next, though once he got over the shock Luffy could cook he dug in with a gusto.

Usopp had to wonder if Luffy knew how much he looked like a girl wearing that silly apron Kaya had left on the ship. Seriously, it had flowers and everything on it!

"Well?" asked Luffy expectantly.

"It's good," said Nami with surprise, causing Luffy to beam at her.

"I should hope so. Learning how to cook was one of the few defenses I had against Gramps insane training ideas."

Mostly because Garp despaired of his adorable little granddaughter behaving like a 'proper Marine wife' and wanted to encourage anything that was considered a 'feminine quality'. The fact Luffy turned out to be a natural cook and was actually quite good at it was a pleasant surprise. She still had all the recipes Makino gave her as well as her own memories of her last life.

Somehow she had the sneaking suspicion that she would end up fighting over the kitchen once they picked up Sanji. Though really she was curious whether or not the self-proclaimed pervert (who reminded her far too much of that Rock gym leader from the Pokémon series she watched with Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta a few times...) would register the fact that Luffy was really a girl.

Either way it would be really entertaining.

* * *

Docking at the Baratie was interesting, even if they did pick up Zoro's bounty hunter friends. She was still trying to decide if it was worth asking either of them to join the crew.

Sanji took one look at Luffy and promptly dismissed her in favor of Nami. The way he swooned over her made Zoro give him a very odd look...until he noticed the 'smug' expression on Luffy's face.

Then it hit him why Luffy found it all amusing.

If someone like Sanji couldn't tell Luffy was a girl, then neither would the marines or other pirates. Which meant that she was more likely to be taken seriously until she felt comfortable enough revealing her gender.

Zoro snickered when they were on the ship, and shared a wink with Luffy. He remembered all too well Kuina's complaints about being taken seriously and it was easy to see her image in his captain.

Luffy clearly had her heart set on Sanji joining the crew. She knew he was a fantastic fighter and at least she could plan around his fighting style which primarily revolved around kicks.

"So Sanji, interesting in joining out crew? We could use a good chef."

Sanji took a long draw of his freshly lit cigarette. Luffy had spent so much time around Hayato in her past life that she barely noticed the smell outside of a twitch of annoyance.

"Well there are plenty of people with us who are good at fighting. Not sure you'd get many takers though," said Sanji after a minute. "Pirate, marine or bounty hunter?"

"Pirate, though we've just started out and still need to fill out the numbers before anyone takes us remotely seriously as a threat. Not even a bounty on us yet," said Luffy promptly, not bothering to beat around the bush.

It was surprisingly easy to get along with the blond cook. He reminded her a lot of Trident Shamal, except he wasn't nearly as successful as the 'perverted' doctor. It had taken her two years before he dropped the act, though he still lightly flirted with her occasionally.

Sanji snorted.

"You're going to need luck or a miracle to get one of us to join you then," said Sanji.

Luffy smirked.

"How about a bet then?" she asked slyly.

Sanji didn't know of her bizarre luck that went from "chaotic" around adventure, training or anything interesting, to "miracle-worthy" when it came to gambling and things happening in her favor when she needed it.

Sanji looked her in the eye and said "What's the wager?"

"You win, I'll trade you all the recipes I have. I win, you join my crew and agree to share the kitchen," said Luffy.

"What makes you think you have any recipes worth my time?" said Sanji, though she knew he had his attention.

Luffy smirked and pulled out a book she had written of all the recipes she remembered from her old life. She picked the one her intuition said was the best one, and handed it over.

Sanji read over the recipe guide before he blinked. Twice.

"I don't know this one. What's it called?" he asked with open interest now.

Luffy grinned.

"That is a recipe for baked penne with two different kinds of cheese," said Luffy. She held up her little handwritten book. "I have all sorts of different ones in here if you want to swap ideas."

Sanji gave her a long look.

"Why would you need a chef if you can cook?" he asked, curious. He could tell the raven haired teen had some experience in that area.

"I'm the captain and it's rather difficult to keep control over my crew if I spend most of the time in the kitchen trying to keep up with my high metabolism," said Luffy simply. "Special occasions are one thing, but trying to maintain a healthy diet on the seas? That's a bit out of my expertise."

Sanji seemed rather pleased by that answer. At least this kid was well aware of their limitations and wasn't stupid enough to try and pretend they didn't exist.

"Well there is _one_ person who might be interested, but from the looks of it you already have a swordsman in your group," said Sanji after a moment. He also made a face. "However he can barely boil water and the only thing he's really good at is some cold dish called 'sushi'. The last time he tried to cook he nearly set the kitchen on fire."

Zoro perked up at the 'swordsman' comment, while Luffy perked up at the word 'sushi' and 'swordsman' being in the same sentence.

"What's his name?"

"Takeshi," said Sanji. "We picked him up after a Marine destroyed his village and took him in, but he keeps hiding behind this really annoying oblivious act. But he does the chores and has some skill with cooking, so the shitty geezer let him stay on as a busboy."

Luffy nearly vibrated in her seat.

Was it possible her Rain was on the Baratie? At the very least he would give Zoro someone to 'play' with when it came to swords, at least until Squalo showed up.

Because she had little doubt the shark followed Xanxus, if her big brother was here.

"Mind if I had a chat with him?" asked Luffy.

"Wait until the dinner rush is over," said Sanji.

* * *

 _A few hours later..._

Takeshi was having a really weird day. When Sanji told him a rookie captain was looking for him specifically, he had shrugged it off. It wouldn't be the first time someone wanted him to join their crew, or for the other cooks to try and push him away so he could 'start living for once' since his parents were killed.

That had sucked, losing both his parents and a little sister to a Marine attack of all things. Clearing out the pirates his ass, there wasn't a single Jolly Roger in the area when it happened!

So when he saw the grinning raven-haired kid with the straw hat, he plastered on his fake smile.

He was not expecting the light head slap.

"Take-nii, what have I told you about smiling when you aren't happy? You know it drives me crazy because I can never tell if you're taking things seriously!" scolded the other teen.

Takeshi froze.

"What did you just call me?" he asked slowly. There was no way.

Takeshi stared in shock when those big brown eyes grinned at him from under that straw hat. There was a familiar warmth behind them. A warmth he had thought lost to him.

"I didn't save you from yourself on that rooftop just for you to go back to pretending everything is okay when you're miserable inside, _Yamamoto Takeshi_ ," said the teen.

He felt a gentle nudge from something he had thought was gone forever coming from them, and nearly collapsed in absolute shock.

"Usagi-chan?" he asked, not daring to believe.

"Shishishi. Welcome home, Take-nii," said Luffy, gently touching his shoulder. The familiar warmth of _harmony_ , of coming home to a place where he knew he was loved filled him. It was something he had missed to the point it _ached_.

To say the other cooks were shocked at the _actual_ smile on his face was an understatement, though there was a sense of relief when they learned Takeshi would be joining the fledgling Straw Hat crew.

He followed Tsunami to the death in the first life, and he saw no reason not to do it again in this one. Besides, Zoro looked like he would be almost as fun to play with as Squalo, once he trained up a bit.

It felt so nice to be able to hug his Sky again, and know he was finally home.


	5. Chapter 5

"Is it just me or is that Takeshi kid _really_ clingy?" asked Usopp.

"It's not you," said Nami dryly.

Luffy snorted.

"That's normal. He'll calm down after a while, but for now he won't want to stray too close from me. I'm one of the few who remembers what he was like before, and he's been really lost without someone to anchor him," said Luffy.

"What do you mean?" asked Nami.

"He's naturally inclined to severe depression when he doesn't have anyone to slap some sense into him and give him a proper outlet. It was lucky the cooks found him when they did, because I dread to think what would have happened otherwise. He also has an annoying habit of hiding behind fake smiles, so it's really hard to tell when he's having a bad day," said Luffy.

"And the fact he's been extra clingy towards you?" asked Nami with a smirk.

Luffy scowled at her.

"Takeshi sees me more as a little sibling to protect, rather than anything romantic," she said annoyed.

Besides, if Takeshi was here, then odds were Hayato was as well. The two were an explosive combination, but that didn't stop them from sleeping together. Most of that was the fact Hayato was such a tsundere though.

Nami didn't seem convinced and Usopp was very weirded out by the idea... Luffy honestly had no idea if it was the fact Takeshi was so tactile or the idea of two guys being together... but Zoro was just happy Luffy wasn't trying to suddenly replace him as First Mate.

Best of all Takeshi had managed to reclaim his skills with his sword style so he could give Zoro a good fight. He still lost, but that was more because Zoro was a lot stronger than Takeshi physically.

It didn't take much for the two of them to bond over swords though, which made it alright in Luffy's book.

Another two days passed, and still no luck getting Sanji to join.

Takeshi merely grinned wickedly, because no one survived a determined Luffy. Especially if she unleashed the dreaded "Bunny Pout" on him.

(He found it hilarious that out of the crew, only the two swordsmen were even aware Luffy was actually a girl. The sniper and navigator had absolutely no clue and it was hilarious to see them miss the obvious.)

* * *

 _One day later..._

Luffy had a wicked grin on her face when she waited for Mihawk to finished fighting Zoro.

"Come to avenge your comrade?" he asked calmly.

"Actually I was hoping you could deliver something to Shanks. I know you're one of his favorite sparring partners and that you're more likely to run into him before I will," admitted Luffy.

"What do I get in return for this arrangement?" asked Mihawk.

"I plan on teaching Zoro and Takeshi about Haki and hopefully getting them up to the point they can handle the New World, which means more time to actually train in their sword skills," said Luffy promptly. "Also I was hoping you could slap Shanks on the head for me."

"Why?"

"Because I have the distinct feeling that idiot has been spreading stories about his 'little bunny' across the New World and I want to give him a taste of what I'll do to him if he makes it any harder for me to get any respect once I reach the Grand Line," deadpanned Luffy. "I don't mind him acting like Yasopp when it comes to his son, but I'll be damned if that idiot's ridiculous image of me ruins my chances of earning any respect from the serious players like the Whitebeard pirates."

Something flashed across Mihawk's eyes, and it practically confirmed her suspicion Shanks had done something that would piss her off.

"How hard do you want me to slap him?"

"Enough that he either crashes into the ground or spills his booze. Or you could always get something really loud to play if he has a hangover when you visit before you slap him," said Luffy wickedly.

Mihawk's smirk was not for the faint of heart. He was starting to see why Shanks was so fond of his "little bunny". He couldn't wait to see her reaction to the books.

Who knew Shanks could actually write anything worth reading? Even if he did have Benn edit it before they discreetly sent it off to be published. It still baffled the World Government that a Yonko would write something like _that_ and what he was playing at.

Mihawk was one of the few who knew the answer to that, and the fact that a certain Vice-Admiral got an autographed copy before it was sold to the public.

Garp found it just as amusing as Shanks and didn't mind admitting he read the series. Besides, he couldn't wait to see Luffy's reaction to the books as well.

"So what do you want me to give Shanks?" asked Mihawk.

Luffy handed him a few letters and a pair of scrapbooks. The letters were from Usopp, but the scrapbooks were copies of the one Luffy had herself. She had a habit of taking multiple pictures, so she saw no reason not to part with the duplicates she had.

Mihawk took them with good humor, mostly because Shanks' precious little bunny had openly asked him to slap the man hard enough to drop his liquor or to make him suffer through a hangover. It was good to know Shanks' adopted daughter was nothing like him, even if the idiot did tend to gloss over her actual personality in favor of what he remembered and what little he was able to glean from their frequent conversations over the snail.

He would not admit to cackling in private when he heard of the prank the girl played on Shanks involving his old crew mate Buggy. The fact she timed it perfectly to the point Shanks had a roaring hangover when she used him as a distraction to get out of a sticky situation was highly amusing, because he had a headache for _days_ after.

Benn and most of the crew found it amusing, once they found out the whole story behind _that_ particular call. Shanks did not, at least until he got roaring drunk again.

Which took about a week.

* * *

Gin stared at Luffy in disbelief.

"You want _me_ to join _your_ crew?" he asked.

"Let's face it, Krieg was an idiot. And from what I've seen you're a decent fighter with a rare sense of honor. I don't see why you should let one bad experience keep you from enjoying the Grand Line properly," said Luffy.

Gin blinked.

"What do you mean he was an idiot?"

"You said Mihawk attacked you because you woke him from his nap, right?" said Luffy.

"Yes...?"

"Were you aware that Krieg was stupid enough to head through the Calm Belt, rather than take the sane option of Reverse Mountain simply because he was too lazy to properly navigate through the mist or wait for it to clear?" asked Luffy.

"What's the Calm Belt?" asked Usopp.

"It's basically a nursery for Sea Kings. It's another way into the Grand Line, but it's _ridiculously_ hellish to get through unless you take specific preparations for it. There's no wind or waves, so you practically have to row through the entire thing without getting eaten," said Luffy bluntly. "It looks nice and passive, but the second you hit it you're screwed. Especially if you're a rookie crew who's never been on the Grand Line before."

Gin stared at her.

"How do you know Krieg tried to go through that way?"

"Because Mihawk mentioned that part of the reason he attacked you was because he was coming through the Calm Belt and noticed your ship was heading straight for it. Since he didn't recognize the flag, he figured out pretty quick that your crew likely didn't know the danger and decided to give you another reason to turn around. Mostly because he didn't want to deal with the corpses and debris in the water getting in his way," said Luffy shrugging.

"Hold on a minute, didn't you say you were hit by storms?" asked Usopp.

Gin looked sheepish.

"Actually we don't know what it was we hit. All I remember was the waves thrashing about like crazy, then someone shouting about a man on a small boat and seeing parts of the ship come off. Next thing I know I see Mihawk glaring at us and commenting on how we woke him from his nap," admitted Gin.

"Which means odds were you were attacked by a sea king and had no idea where you actually were because your captain was an idiot," deadpanned Luffy. "Because otherwise you would have mentioned the whale at the other end of Reverse Mountain."

"What whale?" asked Zoro, staring at her.

"I only heard bits and pieces about it, but according to Gramps there's this huge whale at the other end of Reverse Mountain with some serious scarring on it's nose. Apparently it came from the East Blue and has been trying to attack the mountain for years, though he never got the full story why. Something about a pirate crew accidentally bringing the whale with them and promising to return, only to never come back," shrugged Luffy. "Shanks even confirmed it when I asked about it, though he has no idea why the whale keeps attacking the mountain either."

Luffy wasn't about to explain about the story behind Laboon. Too much knowledge would ruin all her fun. Better to make it sound like she got most of it from second-hand sources that were generally considered trustworthy.

Besides she always found it odd that the 'story' behind Gin's traumatic experience on the Grand Line never mentioned Laboon, and she highly doubted Mihawk would have bothered with Reverse Mountain when he was more likely to come through the Calm Belt since he would have been told about the trick to sail through it unharmed without having to deal with any rookies trying to enter the Grand Line for the first time.

It was far more likely Krieg had run afoul of sea kings only to run into a less than amused Mihawk who was annoyed at being woken up.

Gin looked dubious, but there was something about Luffy that drew him in. Besides, the teen seemed to have a lot of common sense and knowledge of the place than Krieg had when he attempted to go there.

Perhaps this time he wouldn't have such a disastrous experience of it.

"You sure you want me on your crew? I did try to kill your chef," said Gin.

"You turned against that idiot who was all too happy to kill innocent bystanders over a _ship_ and proved you have far more courage than he does. Besides, anyone who honors a life debt like you did is okay in my book," said Luffy.

And honestly, it wouldn't be the first time she turned an 'enemy' into one of her most trusted allies. Most of her close friends were like that, including her big brother Ace.

"How do you know all this stuff?"

Luffy smirked.

"Master of emotional blackmail and people tend to tell you things when they think you're too scatterbrained to remember it later. Though in Gramps case it was more of a case of him trying to subtly pressure me into the Marines, because he gave up on the direct approach after Ace left."

Which was around the time Luffy hit puberty properly...and made Ace heartily glad he was not in the direct line of fire to a hormonal and emotional Luffy. He heard horror stories from a grudgingly amused Dadan about how Luffy behaved until her body settled into it's new normal. Either way, her periods left terror-filled people in it's wake if she had a target to aim her crabbiness at.

No one wanted to deal with Luffy suffering through her thankfully short periods. If the 'sweet and innocent' version was difficult to say no to, then the positively _demonic_ one was near impossible to stand up against.

(Something that got absolutely terrifying to the point she had grown men pissing themselves in fear of her wrath if Luffy was out of chocolate. Ace swore after hearing the horror stories to keep the treat on hand if Luffy was on her period to pacify the beast.)

Still, they needed to deal with the situation Nami was in before they could head to the Grand Line, as she was the only one on the crew who could navigate worth a damn at all on the sea.

Which meant dealing with Arlong. She just hoped this wouldn't end too badly.

* * *

 _Ace POV_

The second commander of the Whitebeard pirates stared at the little shit who tried to beat him with no little degree of shock.

He _knew_ those flames.

"Shishishishi... so the peasant thinks he can order a prince around?" sneered the brat.

He was the second son of a Celestial Dragon and a prince besides, but because he wasn't born first he wasn't allowed to become king. They barely tolerated his little 'pet' as it was, because the brat the boy took an interest in had a bad habit of stating facts no one wanted to say out loud.

The boy seemed to delight in pissing people off, while acting oblivious to the effect his words had on others.

Ace slowly smirked as he allowed his flames to come to the forefront. Not the physical manifestation but the 'aura' of them.

The prince's arrogance slowly started to shift into shock and no little amount of hope.

 _"Prince-trash, what have I told you about trying to dominate me?"_ said Ace in _perfect Italian_. His voice was slightly different but there was no mistaking his tone or the way he said "trash".

The prince stared at him, a single blood red eye peaking out from behind his overly long bangs.

"Boss?" he asked, not daring to hope.

The rough, yet protective and possessive feel of Ace's Wrath wrapped around the teen in a familiar way.

The slightly younger boy practically tackled Ace with relief as his sleeping Storm Flames eagerly lapped up the Storm-laced Sky Ace provided. The familiar feeling of warmth and possessiveness made the teen rather giddy with glee.

"You do realize if I take you and the brat I can only assume is Fran with me that it'll be considered kidnapping," said Ace dryly.

"Shishishi. That never would have stopped you before."

"Considering who my father is in this lifetime, it wouldn't stop me anyway. No skewering anyone without permission, unless it's that bastard Teach," said Ace firmly.

He almost thought Izo was Lussuria, until he realized the man simply preferred to wear "nice" clothing and wasn't really an okama. He had earned some major brownie points the first day he accepted being part of the Whitebeard pirates by asking the man point blank whether he wanted to be referred to as a man or a woman.

Ace had dealt with Lussuria for over a decade. He honestly did not give a crap about someone who preferred women's clothing and wore more make-up than a dockside whore.

(Ace _did_ put his foot down when it came to acting as Izo's new dress-up doll. He had his standards dammit!)

If Whitebeard and his 'family' were shocked when Ace calmly lead the son of a Celestial Dragon and his 'friend' on to the ship, they said nothing. Belphegor refused to take the mark, stating he would only follow Ace, but Fran quickly became Thatch's new best friend when the cook discovered what the teal haired boy could do. The fact his blunt and far too observant comments pissed off anyone who was on the wrong end of them was a very amusing bonus, in his opinion.


	6. Chapter 6

Arlong had dismissed the brat with the straw hat as a nuisance. Someone he needed to kill in order to break Nami completely of any thought of resistance. He had assumed this "Luffy" would be a simple matter to deal with.

He had been wrong. So painfully wrong.

While he had been able to smell the fact that the captain Nami had put her hope and dream into was a woman, nothing prepared him for the sheer protective _fury_ of the girl with the straw hat. It was as if the sky itself had decided to empower a single girl who would not hesitate to put her life and dream on the line to end Arlong and all he had built completely, rending everything right down to the foundations.

There was more than just Haki in the girl's fists. There was power and fire and a sense that nothing would stand in her way once she set her mind to something. An unshakeable resolve that would result in the mountains crumbling and the seas turning to dust before she wavered in her convictions.

As Arlong felt that fist punch him through the building, he could only muse belated at the poor luck of having that resolve turned against him to the point it would take a miracle if he came out of this alive.

Also, he had to wonder how the hell she knew he had been part of Jinbei's crew and that it was because of him that the Marines had allowed this travesty to continue for so long. He was sure no one would trace his former captain back to him!

* * *

 _Nami POV_

If Nami had any doubts about Luffy before, they died when she saw the sheer unshakeable resolve in his eyes. There was a fire in them that said he would move heaven and hell before he allowed anyone to stop him.

And that was _before_ she saw the sheer devestation the surprisingly scrawny captain unleashed on her own personal hell.

The fishmen didn't stand a prayer, though she had a renewed appreciation for the odd swordsman Luffy had picked up along with Sanji.

She would never mistake Takeshi as "harmless" again. Not after witnessing the other teen easily kill several fishmen without a second thought with a dark smile on his face. There was a sort of darkness that was inside Takeshi, one only tempered by the unwavering loyalty he had for Luffy.

Nami really wanted the story behind that. She knew there had to be one.

Usopp was a coward, but he eventually managed to pull up enough courage to actually be useful for once. Luffy had him reading up on carpentry and books on how to repair and maintain ships at the moment though. Considering Usopp acted as though the _Merry_ was an extension of the girl who gave the ship to them, he took to the temporary role of "shipwright" with a gusto.

Nami had to feel a little dark satisfaction as Luffy beat the living shit out of Arlong without showing too much strain. It was beyond strange seeing the scrawny teen able to fight and _win_ against Arlong as if he were a bug.

She wasn't complaining though, not by a longshot.

It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when Arlong Park was destroyed, though she had to wonder why Luffy left Hachi alive.

Either way Nami was extremely grateful for what Luffy did for her. He didn't even care that she had 'betrayed' him so often, or that she had basically stolen his ship.

He was like the sky to her. He accepted everything she was and demanded nothing but herself in return. A strange warmth filled her down to her bones when she hugged him tightly, too relieved at Arlong being gone to register anything but the fact she was finally _free_.

Luffy hugged her tightly, letting Nami use them as an anchor in a world that had suddenly dropped out from under her. Once Nami fully registered that she was free, Luffy had no doubt she would come home and be part of the crew properly.

The look on Nami's face when she found out Luffy had asked the villagers to add special planters for her tangerine trees made her day.

"Welcome home, little sister," said Takeshi with a grin.

Nami beamed, before the words registered.

"Excuse me? I'm older than you!" said Nami, trying to hide her annoyance. Out of the crew, Luffy was amusingly enough the _youngest_. Even Takeshi was a few months older than Luffy.

Takeshi laughed.

"Yeah, but you're the newest Element to Luffy's Sky."

Nami's annoyance turned to confusion.

"Element?"

Takeshi rubbed his head sheepishly.

"That warm feeling you get? It's something like a glue to people like us. It provides a sense of grounding and belonging. It tells us that no matter what, we'll always have a place to call home. That's what the Sky is, a place where everyone is welcomed and accepted for who and what they are. Regardless of their faults," said Takeshi.

Nami blinked. That...made a strange sort of sense.

"So if Luffy is the 'Sky' then what does that make you?"

Takeshi's grin was not reassuring, if you were on the wrong end of it. Fortunately Nami had established herself as a permanent ally, so it didn't terrifying the hell out of her.

"I'm the Rain that hides the tears that the Sky sheds, washes away anything that would put blood on their hands, and soothes the pain they might feel," said Takeshi without hesitation and no little sense of conviction.

Nami blinked and really looked at Takeshi. She had assumed he was just another swordsman, like Zoro, but now?

She realized he was much more than a mere _swordsman_. He was a Sword.

And Luffy was the hand that wielded it. Nami had the weird sense that it was the left hand, and that he was still looking for what to hold in his right though.

Very strange.

 _With Luffy_

"You want me to what?" said Nojiko in disbelief.

"I want you to join the crew. Mostly to balance out the number of girls to guys, but also so I have another rational voice that can help out when things go to hell," said Luffy bluntly.

"But why me?"

"Nami is a great navigator and a good person. But let's face it, she tends to lose sight of reality if money is involved. It's not a bad thing, but that quirk could potentially cause trouble later and this way she has someone she knows is on her side against the guys on the crew," said Luffy. "And don't get me started on the bias against girl pirates. I'm sure she would appreciate having a friendly face that she knows will have her back against that sort of nonsense."

Nojiko stared at Luffy in disbelief.

"You're a lot more perceptive than you look, aren't you?" she asked.

"Let's just say I have a rather personal reason to hate the fact that everyone seems to think female pirates do a lot of sleeping around or are generally useless," said Luffy annoyed.

That got Nojiko to stop and look at Luffy properly. An expression of sympathy crossed her face.

"How long?" she asked.

"What?"

"How long have you been hiding the fact you're really a girl?"

Luffy winced.

"Over a decade at least. I got pissed because Shanks kept calling me a 'bunny princess' and the way Gramps was trying to marry me off to a Marine captain to act as a freaking housewife since I refused to sign up. I'd rather suffer the annoyance of hiding my gender long enough to be taken seriously as a major player than put up with half the shit Nami almost certainly went through once she hit puberty. The only one who found out was Zoro though... I plan to see how long it takes them to pick up on it," admitted Luffy.

Nojiko's expression firmed. She would have considered it for Nami's sake, as Luffy raised several valid points...but the fact that their own captain was hiding her gender just to be taken seriously was enough to convince her.

She wondered how Nami would react to having a 'little sister', or even if she would pick up on the fact her new captain was a girl as well.

Should be highly entertaining.

"That being said I fully intend to dress up when we hit Loguetown. There's someone I plan to meet up with. One perk to pretending to be a guy all the time is no one expects to see you in a dress, shishishi," said Luffy grinning.

"Well then you'll need an experienced hand to help hide the scar under your eye, now won't you?" said Nojiko.

Luffy shook her head.

"Makino-nee made sure I was _well_ versed on that subject. The most I plan to ever use that for is to hide the scar and maybe add a bit of color. Should have seen Zoro's face when he realized I actually had make-up on me, as well as a few female outfits."

Zoro had blushed rather thoroughly the _one_ time he saw Luffy in a dress, mostly because her clothes were drying at the time. The fact she didn't change her behavior at all didn't help.

She still couldn't figure out why so many people tended to react weird when she wore that light summer dress and put on a little bit of make-up. Though she preferred a clear coat on her nails, since it was easier to hide. Besides, it was such a pain putting it on when the ship was moving.

* * *

When they reached Loguetown, most of the crew dispersed to do some shopping. Luffy and Nojiko hung back a bit, claiming Luffy had forgotten something important and Nojiko was helping them look for it.

No one noticed the cute girl leaving the _Merry Go_ or Nojiko slipping into the crowd to find Nami. She had hopes to get a few new outfits that would fit Luffy, especially since she did a measurement of the younger girl's bust size and Luffy had shown clear discomfort at getting a fitting.

Luffy headed towards the agreed meeting point and waited. She didn't have long.

"Sabo-nii!"

She tackled her brother in a hug.

"You got even cuter while I was gone. And since when do you wear make-up?" teased Sabo.

"Makino-nee showed me so I at least knew how to do it. I mostly just hide the scar though," said Luffy.

She noticed the other person next to him.

It was Dragon.

To say the atmosphere was tense was an understatement.

"Tell me why," said Luffy.

"We were performing several high risk operations and moving constantly. The odds of someone noticing an infant were too high. I left you with Garp both to keep you safe and to keep your heritage quiet so the World Government wouldn't hunt you down like they did Roger's son or that girl from Ohara. I wanted you to at least grow up happy and safe, even if it meant I wouldn't have a hand in raising you," said Dragon, not beating around the bush.

Sabo had warned him Luffy appreciated the blunt truth as opposed to lies. She could tell if he did and it wouldn't endear him to her at all.

Luffy stared him in the eyes and he could sense he was under a very thorough sense of judgement. To his relief, he passed.

"I don't blame you for what you did. I just wanted to know your reason behind it. That being said I'm more likely to call Shanks my father rather than you, simply because at this point we're more like complete strangers than anything."

"Fair enough," conceded Dragon. It was better than he hoped for, since Luffy didn't seem to hate him for leaving her with Garp. And he knew Shanks was a relatively honorable man for a pirate who had more of a hand in her upbringing for however brief it was.

"That being said I would not be opposed to helping out your people occasionally like giving them free passage to any islands they plan to hit, even if we're just dropping them off to a well traveled port. Just don't get us directly involved in your operations," said Luffy.

Dragon was surprised at the offer. Very few would be willing to help them, especially knowing who and what they were.

Sabo however grinned.

"Besides, this way you two can at least mend some of the bridges that were burned by the fact you had to leave her with Garp. I'm sure one of our guys could pass on letters or something if we take you up on that, or even pictures."

Luffy perked up at that.

Dragon was just glad his daughter was willing to give him even a small chance into her life. He half-expected her to hate him for abandoning her like he had.

Then again he was unaware of the fact she remembered her past life and the lies that filled it thanks to her "father", who treated them as nothing more than 'toys' he could take down from a shelf and play the devoted family man at his own conviences and forget about later.

Compared to Iemitsu, Dragon was several leagues a better father. Which was the main reason Sabo had more or less _made_ him have this meeting with Luffy in the first place. He knew she wouldn't hate her birth father for what he did.

"And before I forget... happy belated birthdays Lu," said Sabo, handing her a box.

Luffy looked inside and beamed at him. There were more snails and several more scrapbooks for her collection.

"These are for you, Sabo-nii," she said, handing over one of her copied books. Sabo grinned at her.

"Now, I believe someone was planning to see the execution tower?" said Sabo, reminding her of the time.

Luffy's face blanked.

"Crap, I almost forgot about that and I still need to stock chocolate and my medicines."

"I can get that and slip it on your ship before you leave," said Sabo. "Which one is it?"

"The caravel with the sheep's head. Look for the straw hat," said Luffy.

She promptly went to get changed, and the difference was staggering. It was a good thing she hadn't done more than hide her scar and put on a different hat, because otherwise Dragon would have great trouble recognizing her at all.

"Do you really have to hide your gender?" he asked.

"Considering the bias against female pirates, hell yes. Once I start making enough waves I'll drop most of it, but for now it's necessary. Besides, I have the sneaking suspicion Shanks did something that is going to annoy me later."

Sabo's face suddenly went 'innocent' and Luffy's eyes narrowed at him.

"You know something."

"Know? More like I have blackmail and proof you're almost certainly going to punch him for it when you find out," cackled Sabo.

Luffy was going to be so peeved when she found out about "The Bunny Princess and the Sea Crown" series. It was an adventure series told from the perspective of a bounty hunter and the main character fit Luffy to a tee. She was determined to become the "Queen of the Sea", and to prove girls were just as strong as boys when it came to fighting.

Drove the Marines crazy trying to figure out what the hell Shanks was playing at when he wrote it, but anyone who knew Luffy realized who the main character was and started saving up the books for blackmail later. The only reason the World Government allowed it was because the main character was a bounty hunter rather than a pirate.


	7. Chapter 7

Sabo watched with amusement and some horror as Buggy tried to 'execute' his adorable little sister. Only for a miracle to happen because this was his little Luffy. God would never hate someone like her that they would let her die this early.

He had been so amused by the expression on Dragon's face seeing Luffy's usual disguise, even if he felt uncomfortable that his daughter felt so annoyed by the bias against female pirates that she decided it was easier to pretend to be a boy.

Dragon still bribed Sabo for a copy of the picture he took of Luffy properly dressed up as a girl. And took dark amusement in the fact that Sabo blackmailed Shanks and Garp for their own copies of the picture.

He got several information packets from Garp, and a ton of good booze from Shanks...as well as a new copy of the "Bunny Princess" series before it was even sent to the publisher.

Shanks really had too much fun writing those.

Dragon spotted Smoker heading for Luffy first, and managed to intercept before the Marine got any ideas. Luffy was only just starting to spread her wings, and he'd be damned if he let the Marine's false sense of justice clip them this early.

Luffy blinked in surprise, before she gave a quiet nod of thanks to her birth father.

Dragon might have given her up, but he was already proving leagues better than Iemitsu ever was.

The man barely managed to catch the snail Luffy discreetly tossed him. Sabo took one look at it and chuckled.

Dragon looked at him.

"It's Luffy-speak for 'I am willing to open the road of communication with you.' Basically she's giving you a chance to at least _try_ to bond with her properly as father and daughter, or as allies. Considering you did abandoned her with Garp it's better than her rejecting you completely."

Dragon looked at the small snail in his hand and clutched it. The fact Luffy was willing to give him a chance to bond with her at all was more than he could have hoped for.

 _On the Merry..._

Sanji stared at the freezer in shock. He had bought enough food to last them until their first island, but he had absolutely no idea where the boxes in the back came from.

He wasn't the only one having a mild panic attack. Nami had found a few maps and all the basics a navigator would need on the Grand Line like a navigator with several tips and tricks for surviving the chaotic weather that was standard in "Paradise".

Usopp found the makeshift workshop he had started to make in his little alcove upgraded into a proper one, including an actual sniper rifle and a few boxes of ammo, with some instruction manuals on how to maintain and use them.

Zoro grinned pleased at the fact that his 'weight room' had gotten a discreet upgrade, like some extra weights and some reinforced practice swords to play with Takeshi. Takeshi was just grinning when he spotted the familiar sight of a baseball and all the equipment to play the game.

"What the hell happened to our supplies?!" demanded Nojiko freaking out.

"Shishishishi... Sabo must have gone all out when I mentioned meeting up," said Luffy.

As one, most of the crew turned to Luffy.

"Sabo?" said Nami seriously.

"One of my older brothers. I agreed to meet up with him and one other in Loguetown before I went to the platform and we made our way to Reverse Mountain. Considering how quickly things went downhill, he had a bit of time to make sure we made a better start than most rookies on our first trip into the Grand Line. That and the other person he brought with him might have been feeling guilty and wanted to make up for something as a peace offering," said Luffy.

Which was actually true...Dragon _had_ been feeling guilty so he jumped at the idea of giving Luffy an extra edge on her grand debut into the Grand Line as a pirate when Sabo mentioned it. While everyone was so busy at the platform, Sabo and his group took to giving the _Merry_ a little upgrade.

That and it meant Luffy wouldn't have to expose her gender quite yet. Sabo made sure her chocolate supply and the medicines she generally used to deal with cramps was _very_ well stocked. He almost wished he could be there when she found the outfits he slipped in as well.

Nojiko snapped out of the shock that Luffy allowed unknowns on the ship first.

"Luffy, I got the items I mentioned before."

"Could you leave them in my room?"

"Already did, once I got on the ship," said Nojiko.

"Thanks, the ones I have now were starting to get really worn," said Luffy with relief. And she was starting to grow into a slightly bigger cup size, which was highly annoying. It was getting harder to hide her gender now that puberty was starting to gain full momentum.

She was something of a late bloomer, but once she did it was clear she was going to bloom _properly_ , to her disgust and Makino's sympathy. So far she was _just_ under Nami's size, but she had the worst feeling that by the time they properly hit their stride it was going to be impossible to hide the fact she was a girl.

At this point she would be happy if she managed to keep it quiet until the took in Chopper. Out of the crew, he was the one most likely to accidentally bust that particular tidbit wide open.

"What did Nojiko get you?" asked Nami, curious.

"Some of Luffy's outfits were getting worn out. Apparently Luffy has been wearing hand me downs for a while, since they tend to be rather active," said Nojiko quickly. She would respect Luffy's desire to keep her gender quiet after seeing half of the nonsense Nami had to deal with while shopping.

Seeing the comprehension in the other's eyes, only Zoro and Takeshi seemed to get what Nojiko _wasn't_ saying.

If it was just general clothes, odds were Luffy could have gotten them herself. Considering she spent a few extra minutes with the older woman _alone_ before leaving the ship, clearly she had been letting Nojiko get her measurements for certain items that were best left to other females. After all, no one would think twice about a woman shopping for things like bras or panties. And a 'boy' showing so much knowledge about that sort of thing would raise certain flags.

"So what now?" asked Sanji. With the mystery explained, now they had to come up with a plan.

"Since it's tradition for rookies to go up Reverse Mountain, we're heading that way," said Luffy.

Gin winced at the reminder. He had asked around a bar with a few Marines and found out that Luffy hadn't been joking about Krieg being a complete idiot by heading to the Calm Belt instead of the mountain. And that Mihawk had likely _saved_ most of their lives by attacking them like he had, even if he had only done it because they woke him up.

While he hadn't gotten as much as the others had, he still received an upgraded pair of weapons. Luffy and Takeshi had really odd expressions on their faces when they realized he used tonfa as his primary weapons though.

Something about 'carnivores' and 'clouds'. Very strange.

(Too bad he never saw _Sabo's_ expression when he registered the pair of tonfa on the ship. The way his face twitched at the sight of them was rather hilarious. It was debatable whether he was thinking good or bad memories of one Hibari Kyouya.)

* * *

Luffy wasn't the only one grinning widely as they practically _flew_ up Reverse Mountain. Hearing about it was one thing, but seeing it was another and it was great fun to break the keg of booze as tradition demanded for those making their way to the Grand Line.

She would laugh and _laugh_ when she found out Sabo had stolen that particular barrel from Shanks' personal store, and had left the best barrel in her private quarters to share later. The swearing Shanks let off was hilarious.

Luffy thought about how to deal with Laboon, before an amusing idea hit her.

She knew for a fact Laboon knew the tune of "Bink's Sake", so he might be confused enough to avoid attacking them by mistake if he heard it.

Nami had given him a weird look when she suggested it, but the others were game. It wasn't like they couldn't multitask and it kept them from freaking out.

So when Luffy started them off (surprising everyone but Takeshi that she had a decent singing voice), it didn't take much for the rest to join in with a grin. Even Nami got into it.

" _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Going to deliver Bink's Sake_

 _Following the sea breeze, riding on the waves_

 _Far across the salty depths, the merry evening sun_

 _Painting circles in the sky as the birds sing along!_

 _Farewell to the harbor, to my old hometown,_

 _Let us all sing with a Don as we all set sail!_

 _Waves of gold and silver dissolve into salty spray,_

 _As we all set sail to the ends of the sea!_

 _Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

 _We are pirates sailing through the sea!_

 _The waves are our pillows, the ship is our roost._

 _Flying the proud Skull on our flags and sails!_

 _Now comes a storm through the far-off sky,_

 _Now the waves are dancing, beating on the drums!_

 _If you loose your nerve, this could be your last breath,_

 _But if you just hold on the morning sun will rise!_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

 _Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night!_

 _Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again!_

 _But don't look so down; for at night the moon will rise!_

 _Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

 _Let's all sing with a Don, a song of the waves!_

 _Doesn't matter who you are, someday you'll just be bones_

 _Never-ending, ever-wandering, our funny traveling tale!_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho_

 _Yo ho ho ho!"_

("Bink's Sake" from _One Piece_.)

Laboon was about ready to ram into the mountain again when he heard the crew singing. The memories of Brook and the others hit him hard, enough that he paused in his relentless assault on the mountain long enough to let the _Merry_ pass by unscathed.

"Shishishi! So there really _is_ a whale on the other end of the mountain path!" said Luffy grinning.

Laboon looked at Luffy oddly. Then he ate the ship.

"Goddamit Luffy, this is why we can't have nice things!" shouted Nami right before it happened.

"Shishishi!"

 _A few hours later..._

Luffy listened to the story behind why Laboon attacked the mountain, but she had already known the relationship the whale had with Brook. It broke her heart that thanks to some spectacular bad luck the crew hadn't been able to make it back to the poor whale, and that Brook was trapped at the moment.

Luffy went outside and punched Laboon _hard_ in one of his more recent injuries.

"Got your attention, did I?" said Luffy with a warm smile, but there was a hint of Sky aura behind it. "Being alone sucks, doesn't it? Especially when you believe you were forgotten about by the people you care about most."

Laboon whined, and looked at Luffy. You could tell he understood everything Luffy was saying.

"Brook hasn't forgotten you. He's still waiting for a chance to fulfill his promise, even if the others can't come with him. He's just trapped at the moment, so he can't."

Laboon crooned again.

"I promise on my hat I'll bring your friend back to you, so that you can sing with him again. But I can't do that if you keep trying to attack the mountain," said Luffy gently.

She kept a firm hand on her straw hat, allowing the conviction in her eyes to show. Something passed between her and Laboon, because the whale _gently_ nudged her with it's scarred face.

Clearly her message had gotten through to the poor whale.

Crocus stared at the scene.

"I don't believe it. How the hell did you get through to him?" he asked baffled.

"Conqueror's Haki and the fact I knew the reason Laboon keeps attacking the mountain," said Luffy with a shrug. "He's waited this long to see his friend again, and I don't see any reason he can't wait a little bit longer so I can bring Brook back to see him properly."

Crocus blinked.

"You know about Haki?"

"Shanks taught me before I left. Gramps made sure I was competent in how to use it," said Luffy grinning. She patted Laboon's nose fondly. "Oi Usopp! I got a job for you!"

Usopp blinked, but when he heard what she wanted he grinned.

"I can do that!"

Usopp got the paint cans he would need and proceeded to put the Straw Hat's flag on Laboon's nose where the world would see it.

"So long as you have that mark, you'll know I'll come back with Brook and we'll all sing _Bink's Sake_ together again. So don't attack the mountain so much or it'll get damaged, okay?" said Luffy grinning.

Laboon let out a crooning sound.

"Luffy, don't take this the wrong way, but you are really weird sometimes," said Nojiko flatly.

"Agreed," said Nami without hesitation.

"Shishishi."

"How the hell did you know the whale would let us pass if we sang _Bink's Sake_?!" said Gin, holding his chest. He nearly had a heart attack when it showed up and they nearly got rammed.

"Shishishi... _That_ is a secret!" said Luffy, mimicking Xellos from _Slayers_. Takeshi snickered, as he recognized the pose.

Luffy really wanted to start her adventure on the Grand Line... even if she was still debating on how to deal with the whole situation with Crocodile and Alabasta.

She knew one thing was for sure though...she fully intended to throw what she knew of canon events out the window. The whole thing had been ridiculous and half-baked and if they had thought things through a few things would have been avoided.

Like being trapped in a cage with seastone with Smoker. Besides, she was unsure if Teach had attacked and killed Thatch yet. Somehow she had high doubts that Xanxus would miss such an obvious traitor like Ace had.


	8. Chapter 8

Luffy was planning to sleep on the deck while the others went to shore. She had partied pretty hard, practically devouring everything she could get her hands on before heading back to the ship. She knew what was going to happen and trusted her crew to handle themselves. At the very least the serious fighters would be able to handle it, like Takeshi and Zoro.

So when she saw a figure on her ship that looked vaguely familiar, it took her a few moments to register who it was.

Nico Robin. She was leaning on the side of the railing with a sad smirk on her face.

Luffy blinked, before asking something that would set the tone of the conversation.

"Aren't you the girl who had the bounty put on her simply because you could read a dead language?" she asked.

Robin stiffened at that. Very few were aware of the reason she had such a large bounty put on her at a young age.

"How interesting. I was unaware that a rookie from the East Blue would recognize me."

"My older brother is Roger's son. If anyone understands the sheer stupidity of the World Government and their hatred of secrets that they want to keep buried, it's us," said Luffy bluntly.

It took Robin a few seconds for her to get the cryptic remark. Once she did, her eyes widened with shock as she registered actual empathy in Luffy's eyes.

Luffy allowed her Sky to drift closer to Robin, but did not try to press. Right now Robin had no reason to trust her, and it would only do more damage than good if she tried to chain the woman down.

Especially since she could tell just by being this close that Robin was a Cloud. One who's territory was uncovering the mystery of the Poneglyphs, but still a Cloud.

Still, Robin had no reason to trust her yet. Ah, the difficulties of courting a Cloud.

Good thing she had far too much experience with a certain carnivore to understand the headaches...at least Robin wasn't nearly as violent as Kyouya had been!

"I see. Are you sure you can trust me with such a secret?" said Robin slyly.

Luffy smirked.

"I only said it was my brother, not which one or what his full name is," said Luffy. "Besides, the World Government can go fuck a goat before I ever side with them. What happened to the Gray Terminal wasn't as horrific as a Buster Call, but it was still pretty devastating."

Once again, sheer shock went through Robin's frame. How did this rookie know that she was a survivor of the Marine's most devastating 'weapons' against those that went up against the World Government.

Luffy's expression shifted to something a little closer to sheepish.

"Besides... I'm actually really curious what's on the Poneglyphs too. I mean I know for a fact there's more than one," said Luffy.

Robin blinked.

"What?"

"I said I know for a fact there's more than one of them. And that it's the reason the World Government is really after you."

Something dark crossed Robin's face. It was filled with pain, self-loathing and cold resignation.

"Oh really? So you would be willing to have _every_ Marine against you just for knowing what was contained on the Poneglyphs?" she said coldly.

Luffy's resolve shocked her.

"I'm saying that maybe it's time you tried trusting others again, and putting faith in something other than yourself to get you out of bad situations," said Luffy bluntly.

The strange warmth that seeped from the smaller female made Robin hesitate. There was a sense of unconditional acceptance, love, and the unshakable resolve that would see heaven and hell topple if it meant protecting those it had claimed as it's own.

However years of pain and cold hard reality made her resist the idea of trusting Luffy. After all, what could a rookie do against the entire World Government?

Which was why Robin decided to be a little petty towards the 'brat' in front of her who seemed far too flippant about something that had caused her so much pain. If Luffy thought dealing with the Marines was a simple matter, then why not let the kid handle having them after his ass for knowing what was on the Poneglyph from Ohara?

Luffy had an odd expression on her face when she heard the cryptic message Robin had engraved in her memory. It was one of the few things that had never faded about Ohara.

She disappeared before the idiots got too close to the ship, but the damage was done.

Luffy punched out the fools who tried to sneak up on her, before going into the ship to get some paper and a pencil. There was no way that message was what she thought it was, right?

* * *

"So basically we now have a Warlord after our ass because we know he's behind the current problems in Alabasta," said Luffy.

Vivi looked ashamed at the fact she had inadvertently gotten them all in so much danger.

"Ahahaha... well at least we won't be bored!" said Takeshi.

"True!" said Luffy grinning. "So Princess, how about we make a deal?"

"What sort of deal?" asked Vivi suspiciously.

"We help you deal with Crocodile and the mess with the rebels... and in exchange you agree to fly our colors in your kingdom to let the Marines know you trust us more than you do them. Though we'll probably need to acquire an eternal log pose to Alabasta if we do that..." said Luffy.

Seeing the others didn't get it, Luffy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Shanks told me it's something the Yonko's and several other major players do. They take islands under their protection since the Marines suck at it. And considering they allowed _Crocodile_ basically claim Alabasta as his personal territory because the Royal family was behind him, there's no reason we can't start our own collection of islands before we hit the New World."

Vivi blinked.

"Wait, are you telling me that the Marines are ignoring what Crocodile and the Baroque Works are doing because he has the backing of the royal family?!"

"That plus he's technically one of their personal pirates," said Luffy. "Mostly it's the nobility thing though. See the nobles would throw one _hell_ of a hissy fit if they thought the Marines were interfering with an internal problem involving the royal family. They would think it was a sign the Marines were planning to usurp their own personal pirates and make a huge mess that they don't want to deal with."

Vivi gaped...but the sad fact was she could actually see where Luffy was coming from with that.

"How do you know so much about nobles and their behavior though?" asked Nami curiously.

"Remember how I said I was meeting one of my brothers in Loguetown before he left all those neat little surprises for us all, like the log pose?" asked Luffy. Everyone save for Vivi nodded. "Well the one I was meeting is part of the Revolutionary Army...and Sabo _used_ to be the first son of a noble family before he abandoned it out of disgust. Especially since those assholes were all too happy to cast him out when the Celestial Dragon nearly killed him."

Vivi stared at her.

"What?" she said with a choked voice.

"My older brother's full name is Sabo Outlook, from Goa Kingdom," said Luffy. "But he hates nobles with a passion because he finds their behavior disgusting. He was living in a trash heap before Ace and I found him and gave him a _real_ family."

Vivi had a very amusing look on her face hearing that. However it _did_ explain why Luffy knew so much about noble behavior. Learning that the odd captain had personal contact with a Yonko also helped to explain her knowledge that most rookies wouldn't have access to.

"So Princess, what do you say? Will you agree to fly our flag in your kingdom if we help kick Crocodile out of it?" asked Luffy with a grin.

Vivi stared at her...before she started chuckling. There was very little mirth behind it though.

"If you help defeat Crocodile, we'll fly the jolly roger of the Straw Hat pirates," promised Vivi. It was sure to piss off the Marines something fierce, but she honestly couldn't care less at this point.

"Hold on, if we're going to be the unofficial protectors of islands, then why..." started Nami.

"There's no point in doing it in any of the Blues. Any real major player is stationed in the Grand Line, particularly the New World. The Blues are just a starting point for new pirates and no one would take a claim like the one I'm talking about seriously if the pirate is going to be in the Grand Line for an extended time," said Luffy as if it was obvious.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," said Nojiko. "I know for a fact our village had several kids trying their hand at painting our jolly roger since we got rid of Arlong when the Marines were conspiring with him."

"Like I said, the Marines wouldn't take that as a serious claim since we need to leave behind a flag to make it stick. A kid's drawing is nothing they would actually care about," said Luffy.

"So what exactly are the rules behind claiming an island, and what sort of headaches can we expect?" asked Nojiko seriously.

"Hang on..." said Luffy, before pulling out a familiar snail. With the ease that came from long practice, she dialed up Ace. Since she was so familiar with Shanks' schedule, odds were he would either be drunk or well on his way to becoming drunk. Not exactly the best situation to explaining something this serious.

" _What is it?"_ demanded Ace irate.

"Hi Aniki," said Luffy cheerfully.

The snail's expression smoothed out a little.

" _What do you want Luffy? We're kinda busy at the moment tracking someone down."_

Luffy latched on to one particular word in that sentence.

"'We'?" said Luffy baffled. She recalled Ace was looking for Teach, but as far as she could recall it had been a solo mission.

" _Shishishi...who is the peasant who dares call the boss?"_ sneered the snail.

Vivi groaned. She might not have heard that voice in a while, but she _definitely_ remembered that awful snicker. It was nothing compared to the oddly warm laugh that Luffy did, even if it sounded slightly similar.

"Oh gods... your brother is traveling with _him_?"

Luffy had a different reaction.

"Hey Bel! Have you found Fran or Mammon yet?" asked Luffy.

The snail went wide eyed with absolute shock as Ace cackled in the background.

" _I keep telling you no one is going to take your claims seriously, you fake Prince,"_ said a third voice with a monotone drawl.

 _"Silence, Frog!"_ snarled Bel.

"Hey Fran," said Luffy. "Anyway Ace could you give Nami and Vivi a proper run-down on what claiming an island under the protection of a pirate crew involves? I only know the bare gist from Shanks," said Luffy.

The snail's eyes narrowed.

" _What makes you think I would know?"_ he asked suspiciously.

"Do you owe me a million berri?" deadpanned Luffy.

Ace's swearing was music to her ears, and more than slightly hilarious.

" _I_ will _find out how you knew what would happen, Bunny-boss."_

Luffy pouted. Why did everyone compare her to a bunny?

" _Alright Bunny-boss, I'll give them a general idea of what it entails, but I want details from you after,"_ said Ace seriously.

"I can give you a general gist, but I would rather give you a proper report once we're both in Alabasta," said Luffy.

" _Fair enough,"_ said Ace.

Vivi tracked down Luffy for an explanation of her own...like why the hell Luffy knew about Prince Belphegor well enough not to get yelled at for using a shortened version of the knife-wielding nut job. Or how the teen knew about Fran.

Luffy had a rather odd expression.

"Bel has always been one of Ace's nakama, even if they lost each other for a while. And Fran has been Bel's friend and partner for as long as I can remember," said Luffy honestly.

Because really, she couldn't imagine Belphegor without his teal-haired Mist next to him, goading him into fights and wearing that ridiculous frog hat. It was almost as natural as Bel being partnered with Mammon. The idea of Belphegor _not_ being Xanxus' Storm was something so unnatural she simply couldn't comprehend it.

Which was why the fact the Prince had so quickly decided to follow Ace didn't surprise her in the least. Or that Fran had joined him.

It made her curious who else had followed them into this life. She had already found Takeshi, and Sabo had admitted to running into Romario who promptly abandoned the life he had to join the Revolutionaries.

She really, really hoped she found Reborn and others soon. Though somehow she had the feeling it was going to be a headache and a half if she did find that chaotic pain in the ass.

While the dinosaurs had been _awesome_ , Luffy was _very_ upset that her crew had gotten caught by that idiot Number 3 and his wax attack. So much so that she almost threw herself into trying to de-crypt the words Robin told her. There was no way it was that simple, right?

What were the odds Robin stumbled across _that_ on a Poneglyph. Though if it was what Luffy suspected, then she was going to be very pissed off at having to clean up _his_ mess again. And if she was annoyed, then Ace was going to be furious, even if this time he was actually bloodline.

It was to the point she almost forgot about the fact Nami caught a really nasty illness.

At least until the older girl collapsed.


	9. Chapter 9

Nojiko was beyond horrified, and who could blame her? Nami was really sick and there was no way they could treat her! The strange 'yellow' energy Luffy used was able to alleviate a tiny bit of Nami's illness, but it wasn't strong enough to get deal with the actual problem.

Luffy looked at how bad Nami was getting, and made up her mind about something when Nojiko shot her a look of pure desperation.

"I may have something that could at least keep her alive, until we get to an island with a proper doctor. However it's really risky and could have long term effects if we don't do this right."

Hope sparked in Nojiko's eyes.

"What are you planning?" asked Zoro.

Takeshi however widened his eyes, as he shot Luffy a Look.

"You're not going to..."

"You know as well as I do she'll be alive, but in a sort of stasis if I use it."

"But the side effects..."

"It's better than her dying! It's just until the next island!" said Luffy.

Takeshi looked at his Sky seriously, then at Nami.

"Until the next island right?"

"Trust me, we just need to get to the next island and I swear on my Dying Will Nami will make it through this," said Luffy.

Takeshi said nothing, but went to get plenty of blankets. They would need to lessen the amount of skin Nami had exposed to avoid any potential frostbite.

"What are you going to do to my sister?" asked Nojiko.

"You know how Sanji and the others were really, really baffled about why we have such a big freezer when the standard sized one is inside the actual galley?" asked Luffy.

Nojiko looked openly confused.

"Wait, you know where that massive freezer came from?!" said Usopp gaping.

Luffy snorted.

"It's not actually a freezer. It's closer to a massive ice chest," said Luffy.

Sanji dropped his cigarette.

"You're shitting me."

"Explain the fact that it never makes noise, and has no motors or anything to keep the room actually _cold_ anywhere near it? The actual freezer that came with the ship is right off the pantry after all," said Luffy.

No one could explain that, and to be honest Nami had given up trying to figure out why they had two freezers. Everyone just accepted the fact that the bigger one was far colder than the one in the galley.

Takeshi wrapped Nami up to the point she almost looked like she was inside a cocoon, which upset Nojiko because her sister was already burning up and this would make things worse.

So she was very baffled when Luffy moved her hands into a rather odd position and the temperature in the room dropped by several degrees.

"Zero Point Breakthrough," said Luffy in an odd voice. It was almost like the girl had fallen into a strange zen-state.

The second she touched Nami though, the older girl started to _ice over_ with rapid speed until she was completely encased.

Nojiko was having a major freak out seeing that.

"What are you doing?!"

"Putting her in stasis. She won't be able to move, but she won't get any worse either. She'll just be sleeping until I remove it and the sickness she has won't spread any further until we can get her help," said Luffy calmly. Then she frowned. "The only issue is that I really don't want to keep her in that for too long, as it _is_ ice and she could easily get frostbite if left like that."

Nojiko clearly was _not_ happy about this, but there was little she could do but put her faith into Luffy.

That being said, Luffy was quite relieved to punch Wapol's lights out. It meant they were close to Drum Island.

* * *

 _Two days later..._

Luffy was not a happy bunny, for multiple reasons. Fortunately she was able to unfreeze Nami before starting the long trek to the mountain that gave the island it's name.

Let it be said that she was not a complete idiot like "canon" Luffy. It only took her an hour to find the odd system the doctor on top of the mountain used to get up and down once she actually reached it.

And wouldn't you know it, she ran right into Kureha and a certain reindeer.

"Do you know where I can find a doctor? My friend is really sick and we'll happily pay any price to save her life," said Luffy. Nami was only getting worse outside the ice. But she had at least bought the girl a full day before it turned fatal. Even if she was going to be somewhat sluggish from the temporary stasis.

On an unrelated note, she was able to confirm _Teach_ was the one who drove Wapol off. It meant things were more or less as she remembered them from before.

She wanted to reach Alabasta before she really screwed with what she remembered.

Kureha saw the serious look in the teen's eyes and the fact that the girl on her back was clearly near death.

"Any price you said?"

"I'm sure a pirate such as yourself can appreciate a large amount of gold and other treasure," said Luffy.

"What makes you think I'm a pirate?" asked Kureha oddly.

Luffy pointed up the mountain.

"Anyone who flies a jolly roger with such pride has to be a pirate, or at least friendly to the good ones," said Luffy. "Because I don't think that faker Wapol would fly something like that himself."

Something seemed to pass between Kureha and Luffy.

"Get in the sleigh. I'll treat your friend before I deal with the call I got earlier," said Kureha.

Luffy almost sagged with relief. Nami would be okay.

"By the way, what's your reindeer's name? He's absolutely adorable, especially with that blue nose of his!" asked Luffy, trying not to laugh at the way Chopper suddenly blushed.

Kureha had no such issue. She cackled with open amusement.

"You think he's cute do you?"

"It really reminds me of this old song I heard about a reindeer who was considered an outcast only to become a hero of the holidays," said Luffy with a straight face.

She couldn't _possibly_ be the only one to miss the obvious comparison to the familiar holiday song when Chopper's character was introduced. Their backstory was so similar it was obvious he had been based off the famous reindeer.

"Really now... do you know the words to it?" asked Kureha, mostly to embarrass Chopper a little.

"Actually it's considered a children's song, so yeah I do," said Luffy. She had sung it often enough with Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta to remember it, even if she was firmly a believer of the Shinto pantheon as opposed to the Catholic one. Didn't stop her from singing the song with the kids every holiday though.

She settled Nami into the seat, making sure she was secure and sat next to Kureha.

She knew Chopper was listening avidly as Luffy gently sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and how his 'unusual' nose allowed him to help "Santa" save Christmas for everyone, gaining acceptance at last.

Chopper was very bad at hiding his emotions, so it was easy to tell that the song affected him. He looked really happy hearing it though, so Luffy chalked it up to a win.

Nami woke up in an infirmery, feeling cold down to her bones. She was shivering pretty good, but she still felt _loads_ better than she had when she went to sleep. She relaxed when she saw Nojiko beside her.

"Nami, thank the gods!" said Nojiko with relief.

"What happened?"

"You got some extinct super bug from the last island. Doctor Kureha chewed Luffy out something awful when she found out why you had borderline hypothermia, but also said that it saved your life because it forced the sickness into shock," said Nojiko. She was clearly upset.

"Luffy? What did our idiotic captain do this time?" said Nami.

"I put you into cryostasis in order to keep you alive," said Luffy tiredly. "I _hate_ using that technique on living things though."

Nami mentally went over the word before she translated it and stared at her captain.

"You _put me in ice_?!"

"You know that big walk in freezer that drove you bonkers because Kaya was adamant that the _Merry_ only had the small one next to the pantry?" said Luffy, giving her an odd look.

"What does that have to..."

"Where did you _think_ it came from? I was using it as a test to see if I could still do it and when I managed to pull it off I figured why not make a giant ice chest out of a room we weren't going to use anyway? Sanji certainly wasn't complaining about the extra freezer space."

Nami stared at her captain, before twitching.

"You're telling me you turned an entire storage room _into a freezer_?!"

"Like I said, I don't like using it. Not after what happened to Ace... he has a strong reason to hate that technique even more than I do," said Luffy, before rolling over. Nami was alright and she was exhausted after insuring Nojiko was able to be next to Nami when she woke up.

Nami had to admit, Luffy was beyond confusing...but she had come to accept that as an unfortunate part of life when it came to being part of his Nakama. Not that she would trade it for anything.

* * *

 _A few hours later..._

Luffy grinned as she successfully managed to capture a certain reindeer.

"You're too adorable in this form. And so huggable!"

Chopper's blush was hilarious. But he didn't try to struggle too much from the hug, because it felt really nice.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"Why wouldn't I be? You're still a person, even if you're furry shaped and have hooves," said Luffy as if it were obvious. "Besides, anyone who takes that much pride in their jolly roger is a proper pirate!"

"It's not mine though...it belonged to my father," said Chopper.

"Well I can feel the love you have for it and him when I look at it. So that means he was a real pirate and so are you," said Luffy, as if that was that.

Chopper looked at his hooves nervously.

"Um..."

"What is it?" asked Luffy gently, as if he were Lambo when he was shy. The reindeer reminded her a lot of her bratty little brother that she wouldn't trade for the world.

"Could you sing that song again? The one about the reindeer with the shiny nose?" asked Chopper embarrassed. She had mentioned it was a kid's song after all and he could smell that Luffy was a female even if she dressed like a boy.

Luffy ran her fingers through his fur, careful not to dislodge his precious hat as she gently sang the song. It was like having Lambo in her lap again and she could feel Chopper relaxing...and Kureha watching the scene with a proud knowing smile.

"You know you really remind me of a little brother I had. His name is Lambo and he was always tried to hide behind a brave front. I always called him my little cow because he was so fond of them," said Luffy grinning. "He liked to pretend he was able to 'tolerate' anything, but in reality he was my bratty little brother."

Chopper turned to look at her with an odd expression on his face.

"Did you say Lambo?" he said oddly.

Luffy blinked and properly looked at him.

"You know Lambo?"

"Curly black hair, usually has one eye closed and is a total crybaby who likes to say 'tolerate' a lot when things don't go his way?" said Chopper. Luffy nodded, an eager expression on her face. "He's one of the few who never made fun of me no matter what form I was in. I think he was visiting another village for Dalton earlier though."

"Do you know which one?"

Chopper shook his head.

Luffy had a massive grin on her face. First she found Takeshi, now she was going to get her little brother back! If he was here, then she had no doubt I-Pin and possibly Fuuta were as well.

It was almost a shame Wapol had to chose that moment to attack. Luffy was not happy.

And if she was annoyed by his interruption, it was nothing next to the cold fury she felt when he tossed a teen who looked two years younger than her towards the castle with an irritable look on his face.

A teen who wore familiar horns and had the same 'feel' as Lambo.

"To...ler...ate..." said the teen, trying to sit up. He had tried to stop Wapol from reaching the castle, but had failed spectacularly. He tried to sit up, only to feel a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up to find another teen with a gentle maternal look on their face...and a familiar protective rage in their eyes.

"Easy, otouto... let your onee-san deal with this pathetic nuisance," said the older teen. The familiar warmth of Sky flame filled him and the teen's eyes both widened in shock and recognition.

"Nee-san?"

"Don't worry Lambo. Your big sister is going to beat the shit out of this fake pirate. Someone like him doesn't deserve to fly the colors of a jolly roger," said Luffy gently, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. She turned to look towards the castle. "Hey Takeshi! Get Lambo to Chopper will you?"

Lambo's eyes stared with shock and delight when he registered the presence of another familiar face.

Takeshi beamed at him when he saw Lambo, and easily picked the boy up.

"Come on little brother. Let's get you fixed up while Luffy teaches that loser a lesson he won't soon forget."

It took everything Lambo had not to cry with relief. His family had found him again! He wouldn't be alone anymore!

Luffy looked at her little brother proudly...before turning the feminine wrath of a big sister on Wapol. Someone was about to die today and it wasn't going to be her or her crew.

Something inside Wapol curled up and died at the look in her eyes. He _knew_ down to his bones he had screwed up somehow, but for the life of him he had no idea what he had done. Either way he knew he was toast if that teen came anywhere near him.

"You know normally I would be 'nice' and only beat the shit out of you. But you hurt my little brother, you disgraced the jolly roger with your fake pirate act, _and_ you tried to eat a chunk out of the _Merry_. And that is unforgiveable," said Luffy, cracking her knuckles.

A look Lambo and Takeshi were all too familiar with appeared on her face.

It was the same look Tsunami got on her face whenever someone threatened her _family_ or her close friends because they thought they could take advantage of the 'Bunny' of the Vongola.

An orange flame appeared on her forehead and her fists. She might not have her rings, but she had trained her ass off to master her Haki _and_ her Flames without that as a crutch.

"I think a five count will do for a pathetic scum like you," said Luffy, as if she were commenting on the weather.

Wapol almost wanted to cringe at the tone...but his pride as a king and a noble wouldn't let him.

"One."

The fire around Luffy's hands grew in strength until they were almost a blaze.

"Two."

Luffy's feet took a stance to stabilize her for what would come.

"Three."

Luffy's arms locked into position.

"Four."

The blaze began to stabilize, and anyone with a brain could tell that was a bad sign.

"Five."

There was no escape, much less a chance to beg for forgiveness for whatever they did to piss Luffy off.

"X-Burner!" she shouted, focusing her Conqueror's Haki and her Sky Flame into a blast not unlike a laser cannon. Wapol, being in the direct path of the blaze was sent flying into the ocean, along with his trusted 'advisers' who crashed right next to him. If they survived it would take a miracle considering how badly they were injured.

As if that wasn't enough, Luffy's blast was enough to punch a hole in the sky above, even if it was just for a little bit. The sight of a clear blue sky confused many...except for those who recognized the hole which was mostly Lambo and Takeshi.

The teen looked to his 'big brother' and asked with a timid voice...

"Take-nii, what day of the month is it?"

Takeshi winced. Lambo whimpered.

"You know I almost feel sorry for that guy," said Takeshi.

"Don't...he was a prick and he deserved it," said Lambo, accepting the change of subject. "Please tell me we have chocolate on the ship."

Takeshi nodded quickly, which caused Lambo to sag in place with relief as well. Luffy wasn't nearly as terrifying when she had some chocolate to 'temper' the beast that showed up once a month.

Lambo grinned at Chopper when he finished bandaging him up.

"You're still as awesome as ever, Doctor Chopper!"

"Shut up, you bastard!" said Chopper blushing. Lambo snickered. Chopper reminded him a lot of Gokudera and for some reason himself. It had taken him a year before Chopper started trusting him and they had become fast friends. He didn't mind running errands for him since the villagers were all afraid of him for some stupid reason.

Chopper looked outside to where Luffy was.

"Do... Do you think she meant what she said?"

"Luffy-nee doesn't care about appearances. I bet she would be thrilled to bits if you joined the crew. She loves cute things after all," said Takeshi gently, ruffling Chopper's fur.


	10. Chapter 10

Lambo knew his request to join the Straw Hats would be taken poorly. He was only fifteen after all. But he was a determined little thing who managed to stalk _Reborn_ of all people across entire continents to a place he had never heard of, much less been before. Successfully, at that!

So the odds of keeping him away from Luffy and the others was practically nonexistent.

A fact his adopted father Dalton was unfortunately aware of. After all, he was the first to realize it was going to be impossible to keep his son from befriending the odd reindeer Kureha had taken in as an apprentice.

"I hope you're prepared for this. The sea is no joke."

Lambo looked at where the others were already waiting.

"I know Luffy-nee will always have my back. She always does," said Lambo without hesitation. He would miss Dalton, who was a much better father figure than his Uncle had been. He pulled something out. "Besides, she told me to give this to you."

It was a den den mushi with a number tacked on. It had a tiny straw hat with cow horns on the shell.

Dalton stared at it with shock. He knew all too well that snails were expensive.

"Luffy-nee would never make me give up on family," said Lambo by way of explanation. "She also wanted to make sure you knew that she doesn't mind if Chopper uses it to talk to Auntie Kureha."

Lambo was possibly the _only_ person who was allowed to get away with calling that old bat "auntie" to her face.

Lambo grinned at the expression on Dalton's face. It never failed to amuse him the way Dalton looked when he called Kureha "auntie".

* * *

 _A few days later, on the Merry..._

Chopper finished giving Luffy a proper examination. So far his new captain and self-proclaimed "Big Sister" had a relatively clean bill of health. But there was one thing that bugged him he felt he _had_ to say something to Sanji. It wasn't anything too serious, but it would bug him otherwise.

He was happy Lambo was on the ship with him though. He would have missed his best friend if he had to leave him behind.

Once he finished the exam of all the other crew members (most got a clean bill of health, outside of one or two issues which he mentioned that could easily be corrected) he went to the galley for dinner.

Sanji handed Chopper and Lambo a fully vegetarian dish, before handing out the food to everyone else.

"How is it?" he asked smiling.

"It's really good! But I think you need to adjust Luffy's diet a bit."

"How so?" asked Sanji.

"She's mostly healthy, but I noticed she was a bit malnourished because her high metabolism processes the food a bit too quickly for it to properly sustain her. She mostly needs more protein and you should add something with a higher calorie content. Something that would keep her feeling full longer would go a long way," said Chopper.

Sanji nodded, as that was something he could easy do...until his mind went through what Chopper said.

"Wait... she? Luffy's a boy."

Chopper looked confused, but Takeshi, Zoro, Lambo and Nojiko all looked at each other before trying hard not to laugh about something.

"Shishishi..." snickered Luffy.

"Luffy's a girl. A very fit one with a preference for boy's clothing, but still a girl," said Chopper. He looked slightly embarrassed. "Besides, I know what a female smells like when they have their monthly heats."

Kureha had tried to explain a woman's period to him, but it smelled more like a female in heat, so she had given up. So she explained that a _human_ female would be extremely crabby when she smelled like that and was more likely to punch a male than to mate with them...and that chocolate was an absolute necessity.

Sanji had an entertaining look on his face.

"Luffy is a guy," he said, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. Nami, Usopp, Gin, and Vivi had similar expressions on their face.

Luffy was desperately trying not to cackle. She wasn't the only one.

Chopper was firm.

"Luffy is a girl."

Sanji turned to look at Luffy, who caved and started howling with laughter. That set off Zoro, Takeshi, Lambo and Nojiko, for similar reasons.

"Luffy's a girl?" said Vivi in disbelief.

Luffy managed to regain her composure long enough to start taking off her vest. If she had been a boy, it wouldn't have mattered much because several of the guys on the crew went shirtless.

However seeing the tank top with a _bust_ being carefully hidden back was enough to cause those who hadn't been in the know to stall. It was like watching an "error" message flash repeatedly in their brains.

"Shishishi!"

"But...HOW?" asked Nami, who was the first to recover.

Luffy gave her a flat look.

"How much crap did you go through once you hit puberty about being a pirate?" she deadpanned. "People take boys seriously, whereas girls are considered either 'eye candy' or an 'easy lay' if they become pirates. The only female pirate I can think of off the top of my head that anyone takes seriously as a major player is Boa Hancock."

Nami opened her mouth, before conceded her point.

"Why didn't you say anything though?" asked Vivi baffled.

Luffy shrugged.

"It wasn't important."

"Wasn't... I would say the fact you're a girl is pretty damn important!" said Sanji.

"Why?" asked Luffy with honest confusion.

Sanji's mouth opened and closed, trying to find a way to express to explain why it was such a big deal Luffy was actually a girl.

The thing was, he couldn't really think of anything that didn't make him sound like a misogynistic asshole.

Luffy was such a genuine person that she didn't really _hide_ who she was. It wasn't as if a pair of breasts or the fact she had to squat while peeing actually changed who she was.

Nami however was giving her sister a flinty look.

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew. Luffy admitted as much when I asked why she wanted me to join the crew," snorted Nojiko. "She just doesn't like advertising like you do, which was why I spent an entire fifteen minutes getting her measurements so she wouldn't be busted by the Marines getting replacements for her clothes. She's actually a cup or two smaller than yours."

Sanji was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact Luffy was a girl.

He had been treating Luffy like the other guys on the crew this whole time...including some less than friendly headslaps when he busted him... _her_...trying to raid the pantry or the freezers.

Finding out his captain was a woman had Sanji seriously questioning his habits and his honor code. Either way it was going to be an awkward couple of days while he tried to process this.

Instead he turned to Chopper, who was looking really upset at the chaos he had inadvertantly caused by revealing Luffy's gender. He had thought they had known after all.

"Wait, I can get Nojiko, but how did you three find out?" asked Usopp, turning to the guys.

Zoro shrugged.

"Luffy got hit with some water before we first met Nami, and it caused her shirt to stick to her," he said as if that explained everything. "I asked and she openly admitted she was a girl, but I didn't see any reason to bring it up."

Gin looked at the other two.

"Luffy-nee is Luffy-nee," shrugged Lambo, and Takeshi nodded in agreement.

"I need a drink," said Gin.

Nami nodded to that, as did Usopp and Vivi. Sanji was still firmly in the denial stage though he would still join in later.

Chopper felt horrible, but the damage was done. He only relaxed when Luffy cuddled with him a few hours later.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Nah, it's just they need to learn that sometimes you have to look underneath the obvious to see the truth. It wasn't like I was trying to hide it all that hard and humans have some really ridiculous views on what they consider 'acceptable' gender roles."

Chopper tried to understand what she meant, but that was something a bit too complicated for him to deal with. It sounded like a human thing though.

Luffy tried to think of a way to explain it, before she hit upon a good example.

"Imagine a wolf pack. There's males and females in all sorts of roles, but there are also established leaders, right?"

Chopper nodded eagerly. Luffy was talking to him the same way Doctorine did to explain human behavior! He snuggled into her arms happily.

"In a well balanced wolf pack, the burden of protecting the pack falls to both males and females. Sure, the females are the ones to bear the young and do the majority of raising the pups until their teeth grow in and they can hunt, but they are just as quick to rip someone into shreds if the pack is threatened. More importantly a wolf pack allows for both male _and_ female alphas."

Chopper was following so far. Luffy made it really easy to understand, even if he was a reindeer and not a wolf. Pack behavior, or rather "herd" behavior was something he knew a lot about.

Even if this was the first time he was actually part of a herd.

"Humans are different. They like the idea of a 'male' being the alpha, but when a female does it instead of sticking to rearing the young and keeping the home, they tend to react in different ways. A female is _expected_ to be a nurturing creature who sticks close to the territory and takes care of things while the male does all the hunting and fighting. Basically she's supposed to act like a wide-eyed doe instead of an equal part of the wolf pack."

Chopper couldn't understand that sort of logic. Even _he_ knew that females could be just as dangerous as males! It sounded silly to make a wolf into a doe simple because they were female.

"That sounds silly."

Luffy chuckled.

"It is ridiculous. It's why Sanji reacted so badly to learning I was a girl...he's built himself up as a playboy and realizing he had been treating me the same way he does the other guys came as a nasty shock because it conflicts with his ingrained habits."

"You're really strong though! Why does it matter if you're a girl?" asked Chopper baffled.

"It doesn't," said a voice from the door. It was Zoro. "That's what I like about Luffy. She doesn't give a rat's ass about what people think girls should be. She makes her own way regardless of what people assume she should be."

Luffy beamed at him. There was a reason why Zoro was her favorite. The fact she might have been partial to him in other ways had crossed her mind more than once, but so far she had yet to see any signs of reciprocating feelings.

(Then again she was unaware of the 'talk' Takeshi had with Zoro about hurting her if he did decide to pursue her as a girl. He had no issues with Luffy dating him...but he would be murderous if Zoro broke her heart. Until one of them showed signs of actual interest, they would remain stuck in a holding pattern.)

* * *

It was such a peaceful day on the _Merry_. The sun was shining, the birds were flying overhead...indicating land was sure to be nearby, Lambo was handing Chopper the latest copy of their favorite book series (which sparked Luffy's interest) and giving his captain a copy of the first book.

It took exactly five pages before Luffy's aura turned straight to feminine fury.

"Lambo, who writes this series?"

"I heard it was Red Haired Shanks. Drives the Marines crazy when they try to figure out what his angle is with the books," said Lambo, not getting why Luffy felt like she was on the verge of a long, painful rant to someone who had reached the end of her patience.

Usually the result of causing more paperwork to her overfilled desk.

Luffy glanced at the sun briefly, before an _evil_ smirk that would have fit Mukuro or worse, _Reborn's_ face better than her own appeared.

Lambo and Takeshi immediately took several steps back, with Chopper following Lambo's lead.

Luffy went to get her snail and dialed up Shanks.

It took a few moments before the sound of good natured groaning from someone obviously suffering the after effects of a long party filled with far too much booze was heard.

Lambo had to wince when he saw the curious expressions of the others at what Luffy was doing. Mostly because of the look on her face.

He promptly covered his ears, as did Takeshi and Chopper.

"Shanks... WHY ARE YOU WRITING A BOOK SERIES WITH A CHARACTER BASED OFF OF ME, YOU ASS?!"

You could hear the yelps as several things crashed and the pained groans as the too loud voice hit just the right frequency for maximum pain.

" _Luffy?"_ said Shanks bewildered.

"You bastard...why the hell are you writing a book series about me?!" demanded Luffy irate.

The snail blinked, and Luffy vaguely noticed the confused and bewildered expressions of the others.

" _...You finally found out about the Bunny Princess series?"_ he asked, laughing.

"Shanks, when I see you again I am going to kick you so hard in the balls it will be a miracle if you can sing anything other than soprano for two months," said Luffy pissed. "And then I'll insure that your wife Benn has plenty to bitch about while you clean up after all the little surprises I'm going to leave on your ship!"

" _I'm not his wife!"_ shouted Benn.

"Well you sure as hell nag him enough to be one!" Luffy shot back.

"Wait, what's this about the Bunny Princess series?" asked Vivi confused beyond belief. She wasn't the only one.

Luffy held up the first book.

"You know how she got her Devil Fruit powers and the scar on her face?" said Luffy annoyed.

Several heads nodded, including amusingly enough, Gin.

"It's almost a perfect recreation of how I got mine," deadpanned Luffy. "The fact Shanks wrote this just confirmed he based her off of me because he's always calling me his little 'Bunny Princess'."

Nami suddenly got why Luffy was annoyed.

"And you're pissed he's been making a ton of money off the books and never shared it with you," she said.

"That's part of it, but mostly it's because I've been hiding my gender for over ten years in order to be taken _seriously_ as a pirate when I started out. Do you know how hard that's going to be when people find out he based a book like this off of _me_?" said Luffy upset.

If the books Shanks wrote caused people to immediately associate her with the "Bunny Princess", then it was going to be nearly impossible for anyone to really take her seriously as a pirate and a major player. It would mean she spent ten years going around as a boy for nothing.

Shanks suddenly winced. He had never thought about it from that angle at all.

" _...I'll set aside a portion of the money I get from the books aside for you and send you a copy of the new ones before anyone else gets them,"_ said Shanks.

"That and you share sake cups with me so people know we're allies. I'm planning to claim Alabasta after we deal with Crocodile, and their princess ahs agreed to fly our colors in the Alburna once the mess is settled. People will have to take me seriously if I have at least one Yonko as an ally," said Luffy.

Shanks blinked.

" _Why do you want Alabasta?"_

"Vivi asked us to help get rid of Crocodile. Apparently the whole mess with the Rebels and the royal family is his fault. Since the Marines aren't questioning his presence I can only assume he's claimed it as part of his territory. Besides I have to start somewhere," shrugged Luffy.

" _...You do know what claiming a territory entails, right?"_ asked Shanks seriously.

"Ace filled me in when I called him."

He was also ranked high enough (and gotten Whitebeard's approval when he mentioned it) that if she shared sake cups with him, it meant that she had a temporary alliance with the Whitebeard pirates. It would only become a full one once she found them and did it with their captain and father.

" _I hope you know what you're doing, little bunny,"_ said Shanks worriedly.

"Just set the money aside in an account at Shabaody and we'll be even. We can use it for our new ship," said Luffy.

"Hold up, what do you mean 'new ship'?" demanded Usopp. This was the first he was hearing about this!

Luffy gave him a flat look.

"Usopp, there is no way the _Merry_ will survive the Grand Line, and most pirates trade up the second they can afford it and survive long enough to reach Shabaody. The simple fact is that an older caravel would be mincement by the time it reached the New World...and that's before you bring Sea Kings into the equation."

" _She's right. A caravel, especially if it's the type Mihawk mentioned when he visited, wouldn't last a full year in the New World. Even if you had a team of top shipwrights, it would take a miracle and a massive fortune. Generally speaking most pirates save up and get a ship that can handle the trials and dangers of the Grand Line in Shabaody,"_ said Shanks.

"Besides, when I said we were getting a new ship, I never said we were abandoning the _Merry_ completely. I fully plan to make her an extra vessel one we can use for scouting and supply runs, or if our crew gets big enough that we can let the new guys sail with us without overcrowding the main ship, like the Whitebeards do," said Luffy.

That calmed Usopp down a little. He had been worried Luffy planned to sell the _Merry_ and forget about her, despite all their adventures. He could live with the idea of the ship being used for minor errands and to help keep crowding from being an issue. Almost like a test for new guys, or to give the older crew a break when tensions were running high.

" _I can set up an account with the shipwrights so you can afford a decent ship... just don't try to liberate my balls from me for the books,"_ joked Shanks.

"You're still going to get punched, but if you do as we agreed then castration is off the table," deadpanned Luffy.

Every male within hearing winced at the easy way she said that.


	11. Chapter 11

As they drew nearer to Alabasta, Vivi grew more and more anxious.

Which was why she was somewhat relieved Luffy called a 'war meeting' to discuss how they were going to handle Crocodile.

Vivi's plan was simple. They would go after Crocodile directly and if that failed head to the rebel's base in Yuuba. Or if possible to the capital to try and keep the royal army from attacking.

Which was why she was not happy when Luffy vetoed the idea outright.

"Nami, what the odds that Baroque Works has infiltrated not only the Royal Army, but the Rebels as well?"

"Crocodile would be an idiot not to, especially once he knows Vivi is in the country," said Nami. "And from what I've seen, he's not an idiot...unfortunately."

"Which means any attempts to stop the rebellion or the royal army directly are almost certain to fail. I would bet anything he's already sent orders to keep you from reaching the leaders of the rebels and would likely make the king disappear in order to create enough chaos that the army won't listen to you quickly enough," said Luffy flatly.

Vivi winced, because it did sound exactly like something Crocodile would do.

"And at this point he doesn't even need the rebel leader to live. The people are stirred up enough that it would be simple to spark the bloodshed just by killing either of the leaders. Blame would naturally fall to the opposing side and then no one would give a damn who was in the wrong," said Luffy.

Vivi clutched her hands so tightly that they almost started to bleed. It seemed completely hopeless and she was very unhappy because she had to admit Luffy was right.

"Which is why we're not going to attack Crocodile directly. He's almost certainly going to be expecting it. Instead we're going to be sneaky bastards and throw him off his game long enough to throw a decent pot shot at him," said Luffy, grinning evilly.

"What do you have planned?" asked Zoro, already amused and interested.

"Vivi, where is Crocodile's _official_ main base in Alabasta?"

"It's a casino called Rain Dinners in the near center of the island. It's a legitimate business, so the Marines don't bother with it much," said Vivi promptly.

"They wouldn't anyway. Crocodile is technically one of theirs, even if he is a pirate," said Luffy. She looked to Nami. "Nami, you've been in casinos before, haven't you?"

Nami smirked.

"What do you think?"

"What's the standard protocol for major winners, and I don't mean the tiny amounts like a couple million berri. I mean the _big_ winners who make the owners nervous because if their luck holds they could bankrupt the place when they cash out? You know, the kind of people they immediately comp a room in the hopes that their luck will run out a little and they can reclaim some of the lost revenue?"

Nami blinked.

"Generally speaking, standard protocol is that the owner comes out in...person..." said Nami, before staring at Luffy. "You can't be serious! How are you planning to win enough that Crocodile _has_ to come out?!"

At that, Takeshi and Lambo shared a look before they started howling. Luffy was already smirking wickedly.

"Nami, if Luffy's luck holds the same as it did before then there's no way in hell Crocodile would _not_ come out," said Takeshi laughing.

"Yeah, nee-san has really weird luck that hates her during training and adventures that should be boring, but absolutely _loves_ her when it comes to gambling for money or favors," agreed Lambo.

Tsunami had been so put out when she was banned for life by _every_ mafia-owned casino or gambling establishment the moment word spread about her luck. It wasn't her fault she accidentally bankrupted places, or that her luck was so weird!

Her friends and family found it hilarious, naturally. And they ribbed her about it every time the subject came up.

Seeing Nami perk up, Luffy grinned at her.

"Once I lure Crocodile out, I want Chopper and Lambo to start cashing out the chips. Even if we don't succeed at kicking his ass I want to make sure we bankrupt him good," said Luffy. "And yes, I am splitting the winnings with the crew once we get the money."

Luffy moved on.

"While we're distracting Crocodile, I want Vivi, Nojiko and Gin to find the rebels. Here's where things might get tricky, because I don't want you to act like a princess of the country at all, Vivi. There's a time and place for acting like royalty and right now I think you might be more effective if you acted less like a princess and more like...well, Nami when we do something stupid," said Luffy.

"What do you mean?" asked Vivi confused.

"You would try to appeal to them as the princess and agree to act as hostage in exchange for them standing down if you did this your way, right? Because that's what a _princess_ would do."

Vivi nodded slowly. Luffy grinned wickedly.

"Then it's time you started acting like a pirate. If this guy won't listen to reason, then you should act like Nami does when we're doing something stupid and she wants to knock some sense into us. Punch him in the face, tell them off using all the pent up fury of a woman pushed past her patience, and basically bring down the devestation that can only be found in women's wrath everywhere ready to kick some ass if the boys aren't going to be reasonable."

Nami wasn't the only one grinning. Nojiko looked ready to cackle at the horrified faces of the boys. Vivi looked torn.

"But..."

"How long have you been undercover, trying to find the source of the problems within your kingdom?"

"Several years at least," she said.

"Then don't you think it's about time you had a chance to let loose some of the frustration, headaches and general anger over the sitatuation in a way that it might actually do some good and get something _productive_ done?" asked Luffy. "If behaving like a female pirate and slapping some sense into idiots not willing to listen gets their undivided attention, then where's the harm? At least you can say you tried and it'll make them a little more... respectful...of you as a woman after."

It might take some nudging to get her comfortable with the idea, but considering Luffy had yet to let her down she was willing to give it a try.

Kohza wouldn't know what hit him...literally. Neither would anyone else stupid enough to get in Vivi's way. She had a lot of pent up anger and frustration over what was happening in her country and to have a chance to let it out wasn't something she expected to happen.

"Now, we're going to have a few allies, at least for a little bit once we enter Alabasta. One of my brothers is going to be there with a few friends of his. And Vivi, Belphegor is going to be with them. If nothing else ask Ace to get him to tone down his behavior," said Luffy.

Vivi nodded slowly.

"Is there anything we could use to get the Marines to turn against Crocodile?" asked Nami.

"Dance Powder. There's been a lot of rumors that the royal family has a stockpile of it and I heard another that my _father_ had been seen at the port where a suspicious shipment was, shortly before a nasty drought started," said Vivi immediately. "The World Government has a ban on it and it takes a very special permit to even own a small bit of it...something I know for a fact our family does not have. Alabasta is dry enough without adding that onto it as it draws the rain from surrounding areas and causes them to dry up. If we can prove Crocodile is the one with the stockpile then not even the World Government would support him which means he would be fair game to the Marines."

Luffy shook her head in disbelief.

"I never thought I would see the day the World Government did something that wasn't due to corruption or the rot that it was built upon and actually _agree_ with it," said Luffy. "A first for everything I suppose."

That got a collective snort from everyone else.

"So we need to find the stockpile," said Nojiko.

"Vivi, does this powder have a specific scent associated with it?" asked Luffy.

"Not that I know of. I've never seen it before in my life."

"What about the chemicals that go into it. Do you know anything about them?"

Vivi thought hard.

"I might know of a few. The full recipe is kept locked tight by the World Government obviously, but I did look into it after I heard the rumors of it being used in my country and one book mentioned a specific type of mold used to make it. It was one only available to nobility so I can only assume it was approved and legitimate."

Luffy grinned. Now they had a solid lead.

"You want Chopper to see if he can smell where it is," guessed Nami.

"Animals have better senses than us, and I plan to send Nami, Takeshi and Lambo with him," agreed Luffy. "Your job will be to find the Dance Powder and make enough of a hole that the Marines see it. Just make sure they don't see you in the process, so they have no reason to blame it's presence on us. I really don't care if you rob the place blind in the process...just make it back in time so Lambo and Chopper can cash out most of the money."

"What about me?" asked Gin.

"You, Sanji and Usopp are going on supply runs. I want us geared up in case we have to treck across the desert and some new clothes would not go amiss. Don't think I haven't noticed that all of us could use a few new things in our closets. Patch jobs only last so long," said Luffy. "Usopp, I want you to focus primarily on things that would help make the _Merry_ to last until we reach Shabaody. You're the closest thing we have to a shipwright at the moment and you have a strong motivation to insure our home survives despite what the Grand Line will throw at us."

Usopp nodded with pride. He could get behind that idea easily, and would make sure to ask around properly.

"Chopper, before you come into the casino with Lambo and the others I want you to go into town and make sure our infirmary is stocked to _your_ standards. You have full reign over the list and what's inside, okay?"

Chopper nodded happily.

"Nojiko, you're in charge of the women's clothes. I wouldn't put it past Sanji to put all of us into dancing girl outfits if I allowed him anywhere _near_ that particular task. Nami and Vivi might be comfortable wearing that sort of thing, but I would rather avoid it," said Luffy deadpan.

Nojiko nodded in full agreement to that. She wouldn't put it past Sanji to pull something like that either.

"I'll make sure to get everyone's full measurements and ask around about what we might encounter while heading to Alubarna. No offense Vivi, but you've been away a while and you might forget things you've learned to take for granted that we could avoid with a proper warning," said Nojiko.

Vivi winced, but didn't really argue. It was obvious they would head out once Gin and Nojiko got done with the shopping.

"So we have a good general plan to start with, and if nothing else I can cause one _hell_ of a scene once Crocodile shows up. Knowing him he's likely to have trapped the hell out of his base so I really don't want to give him the satisfaction of falling into any of it," said Luffy. "I want to ruin his reputation so thoroughly to the point that even if we fail, he loses his standing as a Warlord and becomes fair game to everyone else."

Vivi was very surprised at how good Luffy was at this. It was almost like she had prior experience planning this sort of thing.

"So does this mean we get to see you in a dress?" asked Zoro, joking.

Luffy turned to look at him oddly.

"If you guys want to see what I'll be wearing before we actually get there, I can put it on in an hour or so."

 _That_ had the intense interest of the crew. Mostly because Luffy generally didn't dress up around them and they all wanted to know what she would look like as a girl.

Luffy grinned and headed to her room.

* * *

 _One hour later..._

Dead silence. That was the only way to describe the sound on the _Merry_ , outside the natural symphony of the sea.

Where the tomboyish and rather brash Luffy had been was a girl who was completely unrecognizeable as the infamous Straw Hat captain.

She had neck legnth black hair that went down her head in slight waves and brushed the very edge of her shoulderblades and flowed freely from her iconic straw hat. She wore a light sun dress with straps holding it up on her shoulders, and her bust was clearly visible with a discreet hint of a properly fitted bra that was white enough to be mistaken for part of the dress. Her tan skin made her look like a vibrant, happy teenager who lived life to the fullest and didn't shy away from the outdoors.

Her familiar scar was gone, hidden by carefully applied make-up and she wore a light dusting of eye-shadow under her eyes that made the color simply pop and catch your attention completely. She didn't wear any lipstick or blush, but she didn't need any. Her nails were painted with a clear varnish and neatly trimmed.

She was missing her usual straw sandals, and in their place was a pair of flat-footed shoes that matched the dress. The dress itself only went to her knees and was very simple in design, but it suited the girl perfectly.

The crew was stunned silent by the _massive_ change in their captain. No one could believe this beautiful, vibrant girl was the same captain they had followed for months.

Luffy quite literally looked like an innocent angel that one would happily spoil just to see her smile at them and them alone.

"Suddenly I completely get why Shanks calls her the 'Bunny Princess'," said Vivi, breaking the shocked silence.

Everyone save for Zoro nodded. He was having trouble keeping his eyes off his captain, and if one were to look closely they might notice he was blushing a little.

It was one thing to _know_ Luffy was a girl, when she acted nothing like the other females on board. He respected her as an equal from the beginning and was rather happy she didn't complain about the fact her 'gender' held her back all the time.

But this? This was not something he was prepared to handle. He was having a hard time curbing feelings he never thought he would have towards Luffy in a million years, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it at all.

This was a side of Luffy he never thought existed, and now that he knew he did...there was no way the image would get out of his head.

(On an unrelated note, when Shanks got a picture of Luffy dressed like that he made sure to alter the 'image' of the Bunny Princess accordingly. The sales went through the roof almost immediately.)

Luffy snickered, and the spell was broken... at least enough that they could move again.

"You know if you're this shocked by the fact I know how to dress like a girl, I almost want to see how you would react to the fact I know how to dance," said Luffy, laughing.

"You can dance?" said Nami.

"Yeah. My brothers and I learned how to improve our flexibility, and we got really good at it because it was so much fun. I just don't use it much since we split apart," said Luffy. "Besides, Gramps made sure to encourage anything that was remotely feminine because he despaired at the fact I was turning into such a tomboy."

"How long are you going to hide your gender anyway?" asked Nojiko.

"If we beat Crocodile, I'll start easing off most of the tricks I pull to hide it. After all, I only did it so people would take me seriously," said Luffy. "I have been hiding it for ten years after all."


	12. Chapter 12

**Everyone, my mother is in the hospital with a large ulcer. Please pray for her at this time. Thank You.**

* * *

It was a day or two before they hit Alabasta when they pulled up something _very_ unusual while fishing.

Luffy took _one_ look at the man they rescued before her face filled with sympathy...even as she had the weirdest feeling she knew him from before. The same way she had recognized Lambo, Takeshi, Dino and Xanxus.

Then it hit her why...perhaps he was someone she had known in her past life with a new face?

"The closest rest room with a mirror is down the hall and to the left," said Luffy promptly once he was on the deck. "You can fix your make-up there."

"Many thanks," said the man with open relief.

He hated having runny make-up...it was annoying enough getting replacements for his clothes. It took him ten minutes, but he came out looking... well, slightly less horrifying than he had before. He was obviously a cross-dresser who had no shame in his preferences.

"Would you rather us address you as a male or female?" asked Luffy.

"Male is fine," he replied easily. "You're taking my appearance rather well."

Luffy tilted her head.

"Why should I care if a guy prefers girl clothing or being addressed as a female?" she asked baffled. "Besides, this is the Grand Line. If I were to have trouble with something as minor as that, then I wouldn't be able handle even half the weird shit that's out here."

The man stared at her, before he let out a laugh. She had a point there.

It wasn't until he showed off his Devil Fruit powers that Luffy had a sudden insight who the man was _before_.

She wasn't the only one, because the second she saw that familiar head of green hair and red sunglasses, three voices cried out in surprised delight.

"Sorella!"

 _That_ got the man to suddenly drop the transformation in shock.

"What did you just call me?" he asked, gaping.

Luffy was smiling so widely it almost hurt. She wasn't the only one, because Takeshi was too.

"I _knew_ you felt familiar! I should have guessed you would still be an okama Sorella," said Luffy.

"Yeah, it makes total sense that you would get that sort of ability this time. I almost can't wait to see what Squalo looks like now!" laughed Takeshi.

"Makes me wonder who else we'll find," said Lambo grinning.

It took Sorella...or Bon Clay as he was known now...a few moments to get over his shock. He looked at Takeshi and Lambo first, before recognition finally hit. He had thought they seemed familiar but had dismissed it as coincidence.

"Takeshi and Lambo?"

They nodded.

"If it makes you feel any better, Xanxus is here too, and I know for a fact he's found the Ripper Prince and a certain Frog who drove him crazy," said Luffy grinning.

Bon Clay looked at Luffy carefully, before he snorted.

"You haven't changed a bit darling~!"

This wasn't Bon Clay anymore...this was Lussuria, the Varia's Sun Officer. If anyone could find their missing friends and family, it was Tsunami Sawada, the Tenth Vongola Donna.

"...Is anyone else confused?" asked Vivi.

Everyone save for the quartet raised their hand without hesitation.

"Shishishi... It's like none of you have ever heard of reincarnation before," said Luffy.

Nami suddenly got a pole-axed look.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me."

Sanji and Chopper, however, were looking between Takeshi, Lambo and Luffy.

"You know that explains a hell of a lot," muttered Sanji. Chopper nodded.

"So you guys knew each other in a past life, and that's how you recognized each other in this one?" asked Chopper.

It explained everything, like why Lambo was so adamant about joining the crew despite the fact he wouldn't be anything more than a cabin boy for at least two years. And why he behaved like Luffy was his older sister, despite the fact she was from the East Blue and had only spent a couple of months as an infant in the Grand Line.

Luffy nodded.

"Takeshi and Lambo were part of my faction, but Sorella was part of my brother's group, which was a subsidary of the clan we were part of. Sabo was the head of an allied clan," said Luffy.

"I have a headache."

"That explains far too much," said Nojiko muttering to herself.

"What was your name before?" asked Zoro.

"And how much do you remember?" asked Usopp.

"Pretty much everything, and my name last time was Tsunami. I'm just glad that it didn't follow me to this life," said Luffy. "From what I can tell anyone who's had regular contact with me or my nakama last time seems to have kept most, if not all of their memories. It's such a pain retraining our old skills though..."

Bon Clay nodded in full agreement to _that_. It had been a nightmare relearning how to fight using Muy Thai.

"So you know where the Boss is?"

"His name is Fire Fist Ace, and he's part of the Whitebeard pirates. Belphegor and Fran are with him at the moment and they're going to be in Alabasta for a bit."

Bon Clay _really_ wanted to meet up with Ace, but he knew Crocodile would take that as him turning traitor and kill him. Plus there was his dream in this life he wanted to complete before he became Ace's Sun again. Him and most of his men...they would have trouble understanding his loyalty to someone he barely knew, much less the fact he would likely fall into old patterns of behavior around the Boss.

Luffy seemed to sense Bon Clay's dilemma.

"Once we deal with Crocodile we'll share cups of sake as allied crews. I'm sure once the situation is explained to Whitebeard he would do the same so you at least have an excuse to help out Ace when he needs his favorite Okama by his side. Besides, I bet it would be a nice surprise for Xanxus if he ever got in over his head and his _Elements_ managed to gather as one to have his back like before," said Luffy.

Bon Clay perked up at that.

"You have a deal!" he declared. "Besides, if you're anything like you were before, that drab fool won't stand a chance."

Luffy snorted.

"Last time the jackass interfered with my natural abilities until _he_ showed up. This time I not only had the training I needed, but actual support and reinforcement. Crocodile is screwed once he pisses me off enough."

"Bon Clay-sama!" shouted a ship that was approaching fast.

Vivi went pale when she heard that name, but she was still confused beyond belief.

Bon Clay disappeared with his crew off into the distance, and her brain finally kickstarted into working again.

"What just happened?"

"I subverted one of Crocodile's most effective infiltrator into discreetly acting on our side," said Luffy. "Bon Clay is more loyal to my brother Ace than he ever was to Crocodile, and as long as he's sure that Crocodile or anyone who is actually loyal to the bastard isn't watching, he's more likely to simply put on an act and just rough us up without damaging our ability to take the Warlord out. Besides, I'd rather have Sorella as an ally than an enemy."

Takeshi and Lambo nodded in total agreement to _that_.

"...I have to ask this, even though my head is already having trouble with the idea of a past life being a real thing...but are there any _others_ that you think might show up?" asked Nami.

"Well Hayato is a bit of a toss-up, and I really don't see Ryohei following us. Takeshi wasn't that surprising and I knew Lambo would follow if he was here... Mukuro and Chrome maybe? Those two _are_ tied to the hip in a weird sort of way, and if Kyouya thought the next life would prove more interesting I could easily see him showing up at some point..." said Luffy after a moment. "Considering your own behavior I wouldn't be the _least_ bit shocked if Viper donated at least half your genetics Nami."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird seeing you act like Mammon with ginger hair, except you aren't nearly as tight-fisted with your money," agreed Takeshi. Lambo nodded in absolute agreement to that one.

"As for the Varia, the only one we _haven't_ run into at this point is Squalo who was my brother's Right Hand and swordsman. You'd like him Zoro... his nickname was the Sword Emperor and he was so determined to prove his skills he literally cut off his dominant hand, which was his left and lived with a prosthetic that he occasionally attached a long sword to. He was also really loud and used the word 'Voi' a lot, and made a point to sharpen his skills by challenging every half-decent master swordsman he could find," said Luffy. "I've been expecting to run into him at some point ever since I realized Xanxus had been reborn into this world too. His dedication to my brother was so strong he swore to never cut his hair until he took a certain position...which never happened because of ridiculous reasons, so his hair got _really_ long."

"Squalo was a lot of fun to play with!" laughed Takeshi with full agreement.

Zoro had a grin on his face that said volumes of how much he anticipated meeting this "Squalo". Takeshi raised a fist, which Zoro promptly bumped with his own with a silent show of understanding between men.

"Is there anyone from this past life of yours that you _don't_ want to meet?" joked Vivi, not really believing the whole past life thing.

Luffy's face had such a strange expression on it...one that oddly enough was mimicked by Lambo and Takeshi...that the crew paused to hear the answer.

"Iemitsu, my father," said Luffy. "If that asshole was reborn then I won't even think twice about killing him in the most painful method I can devise simply so I don't have to deal with him ever again. Oddly enough when Sabo-nii asked that question once while we were waiting out a storm, his name was the first one that came to mind then as well."

"You would kill your own father?" said Vivi in horrified disbelief.

"Iemitsu wasn't much of a father. He treated my mother and I like were were dolls he could use to play the 'devoted family man' and then put upon a shelf to be forgotten about for years at a time on a whim. He was such a narcissitic braying jackass that he thought _nothing_ of sending a _five year old_ up against a trained elite assassin who had little in the way of empathy towards children and wouldn't hesitate to murder the child over something ridiculous. Hell, he even beat his own _daughter_ up over a competition where he wouldn't earn a damn thing simply to prove he was stronger than me! I nearly died because my appendix burst from the sheer beating he gave me, if Dino hadn't realized something was wrong and put me in emergency surgery to have it removed! Then he acted like he had done nothing wrong, that I should just accept the way he treated me and 'take the punches like a man' even though he was told repeatedly that they had been life-threatening by people who knew what they were talking about!" ranted Luffy with such fury and utter disgust and hatred it was clear that her loathing of this Iemitsu ran very deep.

Lambo shivered at the reminder. He had been so young he had no idea what Iemitsu was planning to use him as a sacrifice for the Lightning battle and that it was quite frankly a miracle he had survived that with relatively minor injuries considering what Levi-a-Than could have done to him.

Takeshi's eyes were flat.

"You know we often thought the only reason you didn't just kill him outright when you took over rather than deal with him was because the underworld frowned upon Patricide, no matter how justified," said Takeshi.

Luffy snorted coldly.

"More like because I knew damn well Reborn wouldn't let me kill the jackass. After all, I wasn't having a hard enough time holding up the reputation of the Family and having something like patricide to my list of crimes would have created a chink that he never would have accepted...even if he hated the bastard too."

If he was here, she would not be shocked at all if he joined the Marines and became a bigger thorn in her side than last time.

She was torn between hoping he had...so she could finally vent a literal _lifetime's_ worth of pent up hatred, disgust and rage towards him and murder him in the way he so deserved...and hoping he hadn't, because it meant she would never have to deal with him again.

The crew wisely did not bring up the name Iemitsu again. It was clear there was a lot of unfinished business there, and well justified rage that never got expressed because of certain factors.

No one wanted to see what Luffy would do in a proper rage, much less directed at _them_.

Chopper however moved over to Lambo, who still looked a little pale at the reminder of the disasterous Lightning Battle.

"Sorry Chopper, it just brought up a few really bad memories when she said that name."

"...You were the five year old she mentioned," guessed Chopper.

"I was a total brat who's family was too busy to even remotely pay attention to me. Nee-san was the first person to really see a scared kid trying to act brave and give me a home, no matter how bratty or spoiled I acted. She was the rock that I needed, even when she was struggling to find her own way in an ocean full of sharks she had been thrown into with no way of getting out," said Lambo quietly. "The fact she accepted me as a full member of the crew, even though that life is behind us means the world to me. At least this time I can act as an equal member of the group from the start, rather than ease my way into it."

He didn't mind being a cabin boy. It was just a title...the crew considered him their little brother, but didn't try to coddle him or 'protect' him any more than they would the others. They trusted him to have their backs.

Chopper understood a little, the extent of Lambo's devotion and love towards their captain. He felt something similar around her, because she didn't hesitate to treat him like a little brother.

Sanji and Zoro decided to talk to Takeshi a bit to get a better feel for why _he_ eagerly followed Luffy without a second thought.

Zoro had his own reasons, though they were altered slightly from why he joined originally after seeing Luffy in that dress, but he wanted to know more about why the swordsman cared so much about Luffy that he followed her even in another life.

"I used to be a really popular guy for ridiculous reasons drowning under the expectations of others that didn't mean anything in the long run. Luffy and I were schoolmates, but I never really saw her. Not really. Then I broke my arm and it felt like the world caved out from under me and I began to sink into depression. She's the one who stopped me from ending it all and gave me a reason to actually live. She never cared about my popularity before, or after...she just saw Takeshi," he said with a gentle, if tired smile on his face. "Thanks to her I went from a sword lying on a battlefield to one that had direction and purpose."

Zoro could fully understand the analogy. A sword wouldn't care what it cut. It was a weapon that needed a master to properly give it a reason to exist.

He had always sensed there was a slight difference between him and Takeshi. Now he knew what it was.

While Zoro was a swordsman capable of making his own way in the world alone, Takeshi was a sword who needed someone to weild him before he fully flourished.


	13. Chapter 13

Luffy hugged Ace tightly and did the same to Belphegor and Fran without a second thought. It took them a few seconds to recognize her, but when they did they relaxed. Takeshi and Lambo waved at them.

"Let me guess... you're chasing after Blackbeard for betraying the crew, and he stole a devil fruit that you have yet to deal with," said Luffy, once their introductions were over.

Ace's jaw dropped.

"How the fuck do you know that?"

"I read the manga," deadpanned Luffy. "The fruit he ate is the 'Dark-Dark' fruit or something just as ridiculously named as the Mera-Mera fruit you ate. To put it bluntly it allows him to create black holes out of nothing."

Ace wasn't the only one to go stiff at the thought of facing something like a black hole without any warning. Then his mind processed what Luffy said and his eyes narrowed at her.

"What do you mean, you _'read the manga_ '?" he demanded.

"I mean we're currently in the world of the series known collectively as ' _One Piece'_ , and I'm in the body of the main character," said Luffy without hesitation, with a wicked grin on her face. "It's how I knew you would join the Whitebeards before you did, and why I was adamant Sabo dye his hair and hide his features when we went into town when we were younger. And why I told him to fake his death using the Celestial Dragon visit to insure we left no loose ends."

Ace stared at her...before he started swearing vehemently. Then he smirked, and before he said anything, Luffy raised a single hand.

"And before you say anything about the books, which were _not_ in the series as far as I'm aware, I've already yelled at Shanks about them and threatened to castrate him until he shelled out a portion of the sales as a 'donation' to help me get a _proper_ ship for the Grand Line and the next ones in the series for the ones who actually read it on my crew," deadpanned Luffy.

Ace openly pouted, while Lambo grinned without a hint of shame. He loved that series, and now he had even more reason for it.

"So if you've already read ahead on this 'series', then where can I find that fucker Blackbeard?" asked Ace.

"Jaya, but he's not there at the moment as far as I'm aware. All I know is that Luffy first meets him _after_ he betrays the Whitebeards...though he has no idea who Blackbeard is or why Ace would be after his blood... and he attempts to go after Luffy for his bounty except the Knockback Stream sends them to the Sky Road," said Luffy. "I _do_ know that all this happens _after_ the Alabasta arc when Luffy kicks Crocodile's ass and Vivi leaves the crew permanently."

Ace nodded satisfied. If anyone hated traitors as much as he did, it was Luffy. She had no reason to lie to him after all, and the fact she would tell him this sort of information meant she was willing to risk the consequences of revealing she knew insider information on the subject.

"By the way, I heard a really cryptic 'message' from Nico Robin before she left my ship. I thought it was coincidence, but I would rather have a second opinion before I really get annoyed with a certain someone."

Ace blinked.

"What message?"

Luffy repeated it perfectly, and Ace's expression turned sour.

"That sounds like Vongola Cipher, and not the one available to anyone outside the inner circle of the main family. Though I can't remember which one used that particular version."

Luffy hung her head.

"Dammit... I was really hoping it was coincidence."

"You know which one it was?" asked Ace.

"Congratulations Ace, you're now the direct descendant of the Primo, except this time you're his _son_ ," deadpanned Luffy.

Several emotions crossed Ace's face, some not very pleasant.

"WHAT?!"

"I've spent enough time deciphering his piss-poor handwriting and bad spelling to recognize Giotto's specific Vongola Cipher," said Luffy. "And I _know_ Roger had something to do with the Poneglyphs. So either he was Giotto's reincarnation or he learned the cipher directly from Giotto himself. Considering everyone goes on and on about how charismatic he was and the sheer mess he left before he was executed..."

Ace suddenly made a face.

"Oh god..." he said, face-palming, adding up all the _known_ facts and the details he got from Whitebeard and those who had known Roger personally and adding up to the same conclusion Luffy had.

This explained far too much, and he wasn't exactly sure how to feel about the fact that technically he was Giotto's son this time around. On an unrelated note, if he looked at it from the right angle it could be fate's way of making up for the fact he wasn't a direct bloodline descendant of the Vongola by making him the last heir of the family this go around.

And he had heard several comments from Shanks that Luffy reminded him of a 'younger Roger' and that he couldn't wait to see how far she would go.

"Even in this life you can't escape becoming a mini-Primo," chuckled Xanxus.

Luffy snorted.

"Yeah, that was my reaction. At least this time I don't have to deal with that awful paperwork! I'd rather be a pirate than a damn mafia boss!" laughed Luffy. "And if someone irritates me too much I can just push them off the ship to swim!"

Ace laughed with her.

* * *

 _Later that night_

Ace watched the reactions of Luffy's crew, quickly assessing how they felt about his little sister with a perceptive glance.

Most of them either treated Luffy as a "little sister", or as just another one of the girls/guys. However it was the way Zoro watched Luffy that had him smirking.

Now _this_ had potential. He could remember all too easily how frustrated Tsunami had been in the last life due to the fact she was too nice to beat some sense into her Storm over his bad habits. She had to suffer being single and a virgin until she was twenty-six, when the various famiglias made too big a stink about the fact she had yet to announce a single heir or even get a husband.

And that had lead to far too many disasterous 'dates' until one of the Arcobaleno...he couldn't remember which one but it might have been the Storm or the Rain... decided to take pity on her and help her out.

Come to think of it, it might have been the Storm. The Rain had been whipped pretty thoroughly by the failed one long before Tsunami came into the picture and he was one of the few who could make Hayato leave his poor Sky alone when it came to her virtue and any 'unworthy' males around her. Mostly it was because he remembered how pissy the Cloud had been during that time until they settled into a new 'normal'.

At least this time Luffy wouldn't be totally 'friend-zoned' by the guys around her. She really had some poor luck in that regard before.

Ace waited until he was able to catch Zoro relatively alone and without any annoying eavesdroppers.

Zoro seemed to guess what he was going to say, because he went slightly defensive.

"If you're going to tell me to stay away from Luffy, don't bother. I already know it's not really proper for a First Mate to date their Captain."

"Actually I was going to tell you that if you want to make any actual headway with her, you would have to make the first move," corrected Ace.

Zoro stared at him.

"What?"

"Did she tell you about the fact she remembers her past life?" guessed Ace.

Zoro nodded.

"Well _last_ time she was stuck a virgin until she was almost twenty-eight because her Right Hand took it upon himself to chase away anyone he considered 'unworthy' of her. The problem being was that she was the head of the family and he put her on such a high pedestal that getting a date was nearly impossible and she was too damn nice to tell him to knock it off. Hell, the only reason she even got laid was because someone much older than her took pity on her and was one of the few the idiot couldn't chase off and knew it," explained Ace. "I'm not going to see my little sister suffer through that _twice_ because of something as stupid as the fact she's the captain and you're her First Mate. It really didn't help that most of her nakama back then had already friend-zoned her or had someone else."

"...Friend-zone?" asked Zoro. He wasn't familiar with the term.

"Basically you have a hot female friend, but they look at you as more of a brother instead of a potential boyfriend even when their own dating life keeps biting them in the ass. And no matter how you hint at it, they never seem to get that you're interested in them romantically," clarified Ace.

"Ouch," said Zoro. "So you're okay with the fact I might end up taking her innocence?"

"Okay with it? Hell I'm actively encouraging it so long as you don't hurt her! At least that way she won't have to worry about it being taken because of the Marine's fake sense of justice or any other bastard trying to break her," said Ace.

Zoro seemed to relax at that.

"So I should make the move first?"

"From what I can tell Luffy does have some interest, but she's so used to being considered the 'little sister' around guys that she has no idea how to initiate a romantic relationship. And last time she had so little confidence in herself as a woman that she had a very hard time believing anyone found her attractive enough to date... she honestly believed it was because everyone found her too plain or boring to try dating until she learned it was her Right Hand that was keeping her from properly experiencing a normal courtship."

The second Xanxus learned what was really going on he nearly bit the idiot's head off...and he made sure Reborn and the others _knew_ why he was so pissed, because they had been equally quick to join in. Tsunami had been so frustrated and had very little reason to relax and lose some of the ever present tension that when she finally _did_ get laid the change was very startling.

Xanxus honestly hoped that stupid Storm didn't follow them here. He openly believed the only reason Tsunami put up with his shit was out of pity. He would have put that stupid mutt in his place if he had tried that crap on him. Plus, the idiot put his boss on such a ridiculously high pedestal that it would have taken a miracle for anyone to be deemed 'worthy' enough to date her...or in Fon's case, be strong enough to kick his ass and brazen enough to survive a slightly less protective Reborn.

Reborn wouldn't admit it, but he did view Tsunami as his daughter. He might have put the guy through a little extra Reborn-style hell to prove his devotion, but he would have let the poor bastard sleep with her eventually.

"So what you suggest?"

"Grab her, kiss her and make it clear you like her as more than just a captain or a sister. Trust me, once she knows you're interested she'll be more than happy to reciprocate. Considering you two have fought together and know you'll have each other's back, you don't really need to worry about the whole 'take her out on a date' jazz," said Ace bluntly.

Luffy did _not_ want to deal with the same bullshit she went through last time. The stress had nearly driven her to an early grave and she was planning to make the most of her second chance.

Especially in regards to her chastity. There was no way in hell she was going to remain a virgin until she was twenty like last time!

* * *

Zoro waited for a prime moment before Luffy and the others got off the ship and went to Rain Dinners to start her plan. He had to admit, it was unpredictable enough that it would easily catch Crocodile off guard, especially if it actually _worked_ in regards to Luffy's luck.

(And that was before Nami suddenly got berri signs in her eyes when Luffy, Ace _and_ Fran all demonstrated the fact they could create 'Mist-pockets' to hide large amounts where no one could find them. That had caused them to share a look and mutter something about a snake, which he really didn't get.)

Luffy was already decked out and looking like she did before, except this time she had some earrings in and a necklace on, courtesy of Ace. Apparently he had saved up a few things he claimed while traveling with the Whitebeard pirates and had gotten the advice of a crossdresser on what would look best.

Izou had been more than amused to help Ace spoil his little sister, once he saw her again. He found it adorable.

"Zoro, what..."

Luffy was stunned into silence by the fact Zoro had a firm grip on her and was kissing her _very_ thoroughly. The tongue in her mouth was a pretty clear indication he didn't view her as a "little sister" one bit.

She was breathing a little heavily when he broke it off with no little amount of anticipation. He wasn't disappointed.

Ace had been right when he mentioned Luffy's reaction, because she surged forward and kissed him right back with a gleam in her eyes that made Zoro growl appreciatively.

"I wish we could do more, but we're unfortunately on a time crunch at the moment."

Zoro nodded.

"We are definitely going to have some fun later," he promised. It was something of a relief that Luffy was just as interested in the idea as he was, because he did not want to be "friend-zoned" as Ace had put it.

"Looking good, little bunny," whistled Ace.

"Shishishi... so the Bunny Princess has finally filled out properly as a female..." said Belphegor.

The first time he did that laugh, he had gotten several odd looks from the crew. Then Luffy did the same, which had startled him for a moment before they shared a wicked grin...and proceeded to do the laugh together in almost perfect unison save for the tone, freaking several out.

Ace had found it hilarious, once he got over the fact his little sister shared his Storm's odd excuse of a laugh. He hadn't really registered it before now.

"Last time was _not_ my fault. You know Shamal _and_ Lussuria both agreed that damn seal screwed me up in multiple ways," scowled Luffy.

Apparently when Nono placed the seal on her, it did more than 'seal' her flames away. It also stunted her growth, caused her to undergo a late onset puberty...which had Reborn frothing at the mouth when he found out why Tsunami didn't hit a proper growth spurt until she was at least seventeen, much less show a normal hormonal interest in the very attractive men around her...and as a result there was some worry that it had screwed up her reproductive system as well.

Luffy hated Nono for that damn seal. She had been very unhappy learning that the reason she had to suffer through being an almost _extreme_ late bloomer (she had been fifteen when Reborn first arrived) was because his seal had stunted the growth of the proper hormones.

According to Shamal, she should have started her period when she was at least thirteen at the most. Instead she didn't have her first period until a week and a half after Reborn showed up and started using her as target practice for his special bullets.

That had been a very uncomfortable moment for them both. Especially when Reborn forced his student to visit an OBGYN just to make sure the seal hadn't inadvertantly rendered her sterile.

(Which it nearly had, if that thing had stayed on for much longer. Her body had spent so much time fighting it internally it had partially damaged her ovaries, meaning if and when she got pregnant she would have to be kept on very close observation the entire time.)

Luffy found it _very_ telling that Timoteo had only shown an iota of remorse about the damn seal AFTER Reborn had explained in clear detail he had almost _ruined_ the Vongola by following through with Iemitsu's arrogant stupidity because he had nearly ended the Primo's bloodline. It would be rather hard to explain to their allies that not only had they sealed a young powerful Sky, but they had also rendered her sterile all because Iemitsu was too damn lazy to train his daughter properly.

On the plus side, Xanxus started treating her as a little sister when he found out what nearly happened through Lussuria.

Luffy took one look at the massive casino and smirked.

She was going to bankrupt that asshole and enjoy every minute of it. Besides, this was going to be a discreet way to 'test out' showing her real gender.


	14. Chapter 14

**As of today, my dog Tsuki Hime Serenity is no longer with us. I held her in my arms to the end, but it hurt so much I decided against going to work. It's going to be a few days before I can even think of getting a new job. She's going to be buried with the rest of her family in the unofficial 'pet cemetary' out in my aunt's yard next to her sister and the rest along with her favorite toy.**

 **It hurts like hell losing your fur baby and favorite bed stealing buddy.**

* * *

Every member of the Straw Hat crew (besides Takeshi and Lambo) had to stare at the way Luffy kept on winning at the 'big' games while calmly losing at most of the minor ones. Every time she went to the machines had big payouts, she won with such regular consistency that it couldn't be natural. The minor ones, well there her luck was pretty normal because the payouts were mostly under the six-figure range.

Nami was already seeing berri signs in her head because Luffy had outright told them she was going to split the winnings with them. So far with an even split (plus a little extra to Luffy because she was the one doing most of the work) they would be making _millions._

Best of all the Marines...notably an officer named Hina who commiserated with Luffy over the headaches of being a fighter on a ship where people rarely took women as serious threats until proven otherwise particularly if said female had a noticeable bust and looked like a full figured woman like Hina did...and the security officers had all come to check out her winning streak and had come up empty for all the usual signs she was cheating, thus making it _impossible_ for Crocodile to get any of the money back legally.

After all, it would ruin his reputation as a 'legal' business if he falsely accused a woman of cheating only for it to get out she wasn't and he was just being _stingy_.

Though there was one very odd moment when a Marine happened to come over to talk to Luffy, only to get the most _hilarious_ expression on his face when she apparently recognized him.

Luffy walked up to a disguised Nami and looked very close to cackling.

"Oh god, the look on Koby's face when he found out it was me..."

Koby had a total pole-axed expression on his face that was mixed with a healthy dose of "WTF" and "HOW?"

Nami grinned and handed over the picture. Luffy winked and hid it so she could show Zoro later.

"Nee-san, we got what you wanted," said Lambo. Chopper was right next to him radiating a strange cold aura that originated around the vest Luffy had given him earlier.

Considering he had been born and raised on Drum Island, which had a winter climate, he would have handled the desert heat of Alabasta poorly.

Ace had a rather odd look on his face when he stumbled across the 'big freezer', but it was nothing compared to the amusement he got when he realized what Luffy did to the vest she gave Chopper. The inside was coated with some lining that had been hit with a modified "Zero Point Breakthrough", and while it might have caused frostbite in a human it was a comfortable cold for a reindeer from a winter climate.

Chopper only had to suffer for a few hours before Luffy brought out the vest, and now he was perfectly fine. His big sister was awesome, being able to pull something like this off so he would feel better!

Luffy planned to either bankrupt Crocodile or gain ownership of the casino itself.

Short term was fine, but if she could pull off gaining control of the casino it would provide the crew with a long term investment and help establish her claim over Alabasta as a whole since it's presence impacted the economy.

Nami and Vivi had both been suitably impressed Luffy was able to think that far ahead.

Luffy was also able to come up with a good way to keep the Marines from bitching too much about the fact Alabasta was going to be flying the colors of the Straw Hat crew when this was over.

Ace had confirmed that Crocodile had claimed Alabasta as his territory, which made it easier for Vivi to explain why they were flying the jolly roger of the Straw Hats on the island to the World Government.

Officially, Vivi had found out Crocodile was the source behind the drought on the island and was stirring up far too much trouble for them to tolerate. So she decided to outsource to the cheapest option she could find to lessen the damage to the royal treasury, in exchange for backing the claim of the crew she hired. In other words she was risking the lives of a group of relative nobodies instead of her own people, which fell in line with how a noble (much less actual _royalty_ ) would think about pirates.

Belphegor had snickered and confirmed that no one would bat an eye if the royal family used that story to explain why a rookie crew was allowed to fly their jolly roger on such a large island. Best of all the Marines wouldn't be able to get rid of it easily without pissing off the nobles long term.

After all, the royal family would only need to wait for the Straw Hats to end up as yet another statistic or rise up as major players. Either way, flying the colors wouldn't hurt the kingdom long term except to really piss off the Marines _and_ the World Government which any pirate could get behind regardless.

Claiming the casino would just be bonus and give them a veneer of legitimacy. That and a source of long-term cash they could borrow from later with the banks.

Luffy's intuition pinged, and she gave the signal for Nami, Chopper, Lambo and Takeshi to get to work. Smoothely Belphegor and Fran flanked her, using Fran's Mist to hide the fact that they had disappeared at all. Ace was simply too noticable to act as her back-up, but Bel and Fran were more than enough to deal with Crocodile.

"So you're the girl who's been making my dealers nervous," said Crocodile.

"And you must be the owner," smiled Luffy, putting on the natural charm that came with Sky Flames. She vaguely noticed someone beside Crocodile that she vaguely recognised.

She had to wonder who had gotten stuck with this creep.

He was a young man about her age with sandy blond hair and tired eyes that seemed to see more than most did. He wore a light scarf with a stripe pattern around his neck, but it was rather loose considering how hot it was. He wore comfortable clothing that was suited for the desert, but it was pretty clear he didn't really like the heat all that much.

She really, really hoped she was wrong and Crocodile hadn't somehow managed to stumble across Fuuta. The idea of this jerk controlling her little brother made her rather homicidal.

* * *

 _With Nami and the others..._

Lambo and Takeshi stiffened.

"I think she found another one," said Lambo. Takeshi nodded.

"Probably, though it doesn't seem to be one of her old Guardians... more like an outlier like I-Pin or Fuuta."

"It's definitely not I-Pin. She might have managed to stick close to Fon or Kyouya-nii and her power is the sort of thing Vivi would have mentioned," said Lambo.

"Fuuta maybe? I mean it would explain why Crocodile would need the Dance Powder in the first place, if he managed to stumble across him and drew the connection between rain and the Ranking Planet," mused Takeshi.

"And how he became a Warlord in the first place, if he found Fuuta early enough," nodded Lambo.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Just which one of our old friends is going to become a permanent member of our crew to replace Vivi," said Lambo.

"So far all signs point to Fuuta, but we could be wrong," said Takeshi cheerfully.

Nami clearly had a headache, so she changed the subject.

"Any idea what why Luffy was wearing so many flower pins on her hat?"

"I do!" said Lambo cheerfully. "It's a way to subtly show off the sort of person she is while disguising her familiar hat."

Seeing he had Nami's full attention, Lambo happily explained the meaning behind the flowers and what the combinations meant.

"I think you would suit a marigold...it means 'desire for riches', with some freesia...that one means 'spirited'. There's also gladiolus which means 'strength of character'. All in all it would mean you like money and are a spirited strong willed woman."

Nami was inordinately pleased with that sort of message and made a note to see if Luffy could source her some pins to hold her hair back with.

"What about me?" asked Chopper, mostly to get in on this.

"I'll have to think on that, but I definitely think yarrow and zinnia would be among them. Those are 'good health' and 'thoughts of friends' respectively. Maybe some wisteria, because you are a steadfast little guy?" mused Lambo.

Their discussion of flowers and the 'language' behind them lasted for several rooms, and it was something even Nami could grow interested in learning.

* * *

 _With Vivi and the others_

It would take a few days to reached Yuuba and the rebels. Luffy's idea of seperating the group into smaller factions was simple, but brilliant. Especially since Ace was going with them to insure Crocodile didn't have any surprises waiting for the Princess among the rebels.

He was simply too noticeable to be of any real use in the city, but he was the perfect bodyguard since he knew Luffy could handle Belphegor and Fran just fine.

Besides, they were attempting discretion and being sneaky, rather than overt and loud.

Luffy fully planned to have them meet up in Yuuba or even Alburna later once they finished with Rain Dinners. It depending on what Ace could relay through the Den Den Mushi...which still weirded the siblings out, using a _snail_ like a cell phone of all things.

Since they had a lot of time to kill...and the girls were riding a camel Sanji had managed to find while the boys walked... Vivi decided to ask Ace what Luffy had been like before.

Ace snorted.

"Luffy in her past life was a skittish little rabbit, mostly because her shitty father thought it was a _brilliant_ idea to seal her natural talents simply because he didn't want to actually train her or even interact with her. The asshole even went so far as to nearly kill her during a competition and didn't care about the fact she had to go under emergency surgery less than two hours after he fought her. And that's not going into the fact the asshole nearly caused her to become sterile."

Nojiko and Vivi paled hearing that last bit.

"He _what?_ " said Nojiko horrified.

"You know our Flames?" he asked.

Nojiko nodded, as did Vivi.

"Well imagine having all of Luffy's 'firepower' bottled up for over a decade, with no outlet. Worse, she was actively bullied and ostracized by petty children who were allowed to do so by the adults...hell several of her teachers even harassed her because her natural intelligence was forcibly being surpressed by the seal. Apparently the method they used caused her to 'bloom' very late in life and her tutor at the time forced her to see a doctor for women. The seal was slowly cooking her internal organs, and the parts that allow children to be born were extremely sensitive to that sort of thing, so they were damaged," said Ace.

"That's horrible!" said Vivi.

"Want to hear the worst part?" said Ace.

The trio nodded, unwilling to trust their voices. It was no wonder Luffy was so open and kind...she had been through hell in her past life.

"The asshole who put the seal on her didn't show any remorse to what he did at her father's request until _after_ he found out that he nearly caused her to be unable to have kids. She was the last heir he had left and a descendant of the man who started the family and they nearly wiped that line out because of a seal that should never have been put on her in the first place. And when he was confronted with the facts he only cared that he had nearly rendered her sterile, rather than the fact he had put her through literal _hell_ for over a decade."

"Poor Luffy..." said Vivi with open sympathy.

"Will she be alright with you telling us this?" asked Nojiko in concern.

"Why would she care? That part of her 'life' is over and while she got dealt a mildly shitty hand it's still leagues better than last time. Sure, her old man abandoned her but he didn't hide behind a lie or pretend he cared only to ignore her when she needed it most. He gave her a damn good reason why he didn't and actually accepted the fact his actions would have consequences. And while Gramps is an asshole, he still cared in his own shitty way about us even if we did go through his hellish idea of training," shrugged Ace.

Sure, Garp was an asshole and his idiotic ideas of how to toughen them up had been hell to go through, but he did care about them in his own twisted way. He also made no bones about why he was doing it either and gave them a straight answer.

Compared to their last life, when they had to sift through so many lies just to get a glimpse of the actual truth, it was a very nice change of pace. Besides, this time they had each other early enough to lessen the blow.

"Besides... Luffy trusts you all to claim you as family. So long as you never betray her, she won't care if you know what her life was like before," said Ace.

If the mood was slightly somber as they continued onward, well was it any surprise after the emotional information dump Ace had just given them.

Vivi tried desperately to change the subject.

"So how did you meet her last time?"

"I was tricked into thinking I had a chance to claim a title I had been lead to believe was mine, only to find out it was a set-up to force me into following her whether I liked it or not. My asshole of an adopted father never had the balls to tell me to my face that I wasn't his son and therefor unable to actually inherit the position he lorded over me," said Ace. "Luffy managed to calm my rage, but not before I tried to kill her first."

Hello awkward silence, so good to see you again so soon.

"Can we just drop the line of questioning already?" Gin half pleaded. He was feeling really uncomfortable hearing even a fraction of the crap his new captain went through in her last life.

The girls wisely quit asking.


	15. Chapter 15

Luffy was trying not to cackle outright as she walked out of Rain Dinners with a 'transfer of ownership' document that was verified by no less than _three_ senior Marines and backed by Belphegor himself. The look on Crocodile's face when he realized he wouldn't be backing out of this particular agreement or he'd lose his standing with the World Government _and_ the nobility had been priceless.

Bel certainly thought so, because he was still snickering at the _look_ on Crocodile's face when the idiot realized that there was an actual noble _and_ the son of a Celestial Dragon at the same table with them to act as witness. A known one he couldn't kill without getting into far too much hot water at that!

Luffy made very sure to sign the document and have it registered with the outpost that handled such things before Crocodile found her.

Beside her was the resigned and tired 'assistant' that she had also conned the Warlord out of. The sandy haired boy felt more 'apathetic' than anything when he found out that he would have to get used to a new 'master'.

He wasn't a slave, but considering his power he might as well be.

"Can I have your name?" asked Luffy.

"Master Crocodile called me Prince, but I rather not say what my name is," he said. There was a distinct sense of hopelessness, as if he fully expected to 'retrieve' him at some point.

"Why did he keep you so close anyway?" asked Luffy. Mostly to confirm her suspicion.

"There's no point telling you, he'll just get me back anyways. He always does."

Now she was positive she knew exactly who was before her.

"Really Fuuta-chan, do you honestly think I would let that ass Crocodile keep my little brother hostage because of your ranking ability?" she said irritably.

The young man's eyes went wide in shock.

"What did you call me?" he asked. There was a faint vestige of hope in his expression.

"Fuuta de la Stella, aka the Ranking Prince. Or as I always liked to call you, Fuuta-chan. Did you really think your big sister would let you suffer being held captive by someone like Crocodile the _second_ I realized it was you?" said Luffy gently.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he practically tackled her in a hug. He had been stuck with Crocodile for so long he had almost given up hope of ever getting away from his horrible cage.

"There, there, Fuuta-chan. I promise things will get better, for you and Nico Robin," said Luffy soothingly, wrapping her Sky flame around him like a warm blanket.

Years of tension drained from his form when she did, as he happily reconnected to her Sky, even though he had an Earth Flame.

It had come as a pleasant and unusual surprise to learn the whole 'floating' thing he did was just a manifestation of a partially awakened Earth Flame coupled with a very strong case of clairvoyance. The entire 'ranking planet' was just a coping mechanism that his family had developed early on.

Fuuta happily cuddled against Luffy, staying close to her side. He was even happier when he heard the explosion and two other familiar faces appeared.

"Hey Fuuta-kun!" said Takeshi with a grin.

"Fuuta-nii!" said Lambo with a wave.

Fuuta smiled from the bottom of his heart...he was finally home. Now if his nee-san could permanently get rid of Crocodile he would be really thrilled.

He had little doubt that if his sister ran into Nico Robin, she would find a way to give his other 'sister' a place to belong that she so clearly needed. The two of them had bonded over books and the fact that they were caged in their own ways. She had been one of the nicest to him and would often share tales of things she saw.

"What was that explosion earlier?" asked Fuuta.

"Oh we were just exposing the fact that Crocodile had Dance Powder in the casino," said Luffy cheerfully. "Since I _just_ obtained ownership not an hour ago and haven't had time to explore my new place, there's no way the Marines would be stupid enough to assume I put it there. Besides, worst case scenario I'll get Belphegor to back that it's not mine because he was on the ship with us when we arrived to the town."

Fuuta's expression became flat.

"So that was _really_ Belphegor and Fran back there?" he asked.

"To be fair, I sent Xanxus on ahead with the idealist, Nami's sister and Gin to put a certain...respect...towards a certain member of the royal family into the rebels."

Fuuta looked at Takeshi and Lambo. They didn't bother to hide the wince.

"You sent the Princess to the rebels and told her to act like you whenever it's that time of the month and there isn't any chocolate within range," said Fuuta flatly.

Luffy's grin was so 'innocent' that it was obvious to anyone with a brain it was completely fake. Nami snorted with amusement when she saw it, and all the boys winced.

"Is it really so bad?" asked Nami.

The boys all cringed.

"Nee-san/Luffy without chocolate during that time of the month is a _demon_. A demon who suddenly loses the patience of a saint and is more than happy to blow people through the walls if they create too much paperwork and then make _them_ do it," said the boys in horrified unison.

"Nee-san would make the devil himself cringe in fear during that time of the month without something to pacify her," said Lambo. Fuuta nodded heartily.

Takeshi mentally went through the date in his head...before he suddenly snorted.

"Actually, does Alabasta have any chocolate? I mean considering this climate..."

Lambo and Fuuta looked at him horrified.

"Are you insane? I hate Crocodile but no man deserves to have Nee-san without chocolate during that time of the month set on them!" said Fuuta.

"Yeah, but by the time we reach Alburna..." said Takeshi.

Fuuta and Lambo shuddered at the mere _idea_.

"It's official, you've spent way too much time with Squalo and Xanxus if you find _that_ idea entertaining," said Lambo. Fuuta nodded heartily.

Chopper...had a rather terrified look on his face if facing Luffy without chocolate during one of the 'heats' she went through every month inspired that sort of instinctive fear in others that transcended lifetimes.

Luffy gave up and cackled.

"It's so nice when boys come well trained on how to handle us girls during that time of the month, right Nami?"

Nami snickered and fist-bumped the other girl with open agreement. This was hilarious.

Xanxus shuddered in absolute horror. He knew this feeling all too well.

"Dear god, I almost feel sorry for Crocodile now," he said.

That got him some very odd looks from the others, particularly Vivi.

"You what?"

"Does Alburna have anything chocolate or chocolate related in it?" asked Xanxus, almost in a panic.

"We live in the desert," she deadpanned. "The odds of anything making it from the nearest port and still being remotely good are pretty much next to zero, even for someone like me. I would have to go to Nanohana just to get any, and it was ridiculously expensive."

Xanxus definitely shuddered now.

"Yeah, I definitely feel pity for Crocodile then," said Xanxus.

"Why?" asked Gin.

"Because if Luffy is strong when she's determined to protect her family or those she's claimed, she's a demon straight out of hell during that time of the month without something to temper her hormone-fueled rage. And considering anyone with sense keeps close track of when 'that' happens to her, there's an almost certain chance that Crocodile is going to be facing a chocolate-deprived Luffy during that time of the month when she's already pissed at him," said Xanxus bluntly. He shuddered. "If he wasn't doomed before, he's completely and utterly screwed if that happens."

"You have to be joking," said Gin.

"Let me put it this way... I was _thrilled_ to be an ocean away when she first started her monthlies this go around," said Xanxus shivering. "She put the fear of the sea gods into hardened bandits _and_ Garp when it started."

That had been _hilarious_ , especially since Ace had already known what would happen before it did. He had cackled for _days_ on the _Moby Dick_ when he learned she had started her monthlies and was beyond happy to be on the Grand Line, far from the line of fire while Garp learned very quickly to run like hell the other direction.

And Shanks had thought he had been _kidding_ when Ace spoke of the terror Luffy could be on her period! He really, really hoped the Yonko came face to face with it when they found each other again.

"She put the fear of the sea gods into the great Marine hero?!" said Gin terrified.

"Like I said...my adorable little sister is a demon during her period," said Ace. "Personally I can't wait for Shanks to see that side of her...should prove hilarious for everyone except him!"

* * *

It took far too long for Vivi's liking to reach Yuuba.

It felt like an eternity before Kohza finally came to find who was asking for him, and Vivi remembered Luffy's "plan" to make him either listen to reason or to at least give him a good reason to pay attention!

As if she had practiced this a thousand times (it was more like a thousand and one), Vivi put all the pent up frustration and anger over what was happening into her country into a solid blow against his jaw. Kohza went flying.

"You damn idiot! I spend _years_ undercover trying to find out who is behind the recent problems in our country, and you start a _rebellion_ against the Royal family just because of rumors? Have you _never_ heard of a devil fruit before?!" she shouted.

Kohza's expression when he realized who just punched him, and that she wasn't acting remotely princess-like was hilarious.

" _Vivi_?!" he said in disbelief.

Vivi glared at him, acting so much like Nami when she was pissed off and ready to deliver multiple headslaps to the boys that Nojiko had to hide her laugh behind her hand.

"Do you have _any_ idea how much crap I had to go through before I was able to track down that it was _Crocodile_ behind Baroque works? That he was the reason why our country has been having so many problems of late?" she snarled.

The more Vivi ripped the rebel leader a new one, for not thinking things through properly, the better she felt. Having someone to vent to _and_ doing something that was overall productive to her goal of SAVING her kingdom was cathartic.

Luffy was right... now wasn't the time to act like a 'princess'. It was time she acted behaved like a female pirate and make the boys see some damn sense for a change.

Either way, there was no way her old friends would look at her the same ever again. They were so used to Princess Vivi that they never saw her as a proper woman before.

Ace's eyes gleamed when he spotted several tattoos. It was time to get to work...good thing he wasn't _just_ Portgas D. Ace... he was also Xanxus Vongola, sneaky bastard and someone who knew the ins and outs of being an assassin.

By the time the rebels cottoned on to the fact that several of their number were falling 'asleep' and not waking up, it didn't take much for Nojiko to find the _tattoos_ on the dead men's shoulders.

Tattoos that belonged to the Millions. Tattoos that indicated they worked for the very man Vivi was working so hard to stop. Tattoos that indicated traitors in their midst.

By the time Ace was done sowing chaos, the damage was done. It didn't take much to realize that Crocodile was playing both sides against each other, because some of the 'new recruits' from the royal army had the same tattoo on their shoulder as well.

Kohza was not happy, and realized Vivi might actually be telling the truth about something being very wrong. That maybe it _wasn't_ the royal family they had to fight against.

* * *

Robin stared at the tiny body before her. She hadn't really believed the rookie pirate would stand a chance against Crocodile. That he would be just another statistic.

Except when Luffy confronted Crocodile, to buy "Vivi" a chance to escape, Robin quickly realized several facts she had taken for granted were turning out to be fake.

Fact one: Vivi was _not_ with the Straw Hats at the moment.

Fact two: At some point Luffy had managed to convince Fuuta to take a chance on the Straw Hat crew as his only means of escape.

Vivi was one thing, but Fuuta had been around Crocodile to know that the man would never allow him out of his control as long as he was alive.

Fuuta was the entire reason Crocodile was a warlord in the first place. The man was strong enough to maintain control of the unusual asset that was the "Ranking Prince", and the World Goverment was content to let the pirate have him so long as they were allowed access to his rankings. After all, that way they wouldn't have to waste resources keeping him "protected".

Fact three, and this was the thing that threw Robin for a loop: Luffy was the mystery woman who won Rain Dinners off Crocodile two days ago, shortly before the Marines were alerted to the stockpile of Dance Powder that he hadn't had a chance to move to Alburna.

Since she had only arrived that day, and had won the casino less than two hours previously under the watchful eye of two high ranking Marines, there was no way she could possibly be responsible for it's presence there. Which meant someone close to Crocodile, or even the warlord _himself_ had to be the one stockpiling the stuff.

The man was in a great deal of hot water and was sinking fast at this rate.

It was a very calculated plan of attack, and Robin had to wonder if the pirate had planned this from the very beginning.

"You sent the princess on ahead, didn't you?"

"Shishishi... Like I would be stupid enough to follow her idea and confront him directly, only to try and contact the rebels after," said Luffy proudly. "Easier to send her to the rebels with a few others to watch her back and take chunks out of Crocodile's power base while he's too busy trying to take out a rookie pirate captain to realize he's been had."

Robin had to appreciate the simplicity of the trick. Crocodile certainly didn't expect Vivi to go on ahead with a small group, or that Luffy would successfully distract him by taking not only his most important asset, but also one of his main sources of income from him _legally_.

"Why are you hiding the fact you're a woman though?" asked Robin finally.

"Do you have _any_ idea the amount of crap female pirates have to go through after puberty in order to be taken seriously? Besides, at least this way I don't flash everyone when I kick their ass," deadpanned Luffy.

Robin conceded that point.

"What do you plan to do now?"

Luffy made sure there was no one around to hear what she said next. Robin was mostly amused...right up until Luffy said something that _no one_ should know about. The secret message in the Poneglyph that had taken the scholars on Ohara _decades_ to decode that they had mostly taken to their grave. Only she knew the hidden cipher.

"How?!" demanded Robin, holding Luffy by the shoulder's desperately. How did this girl know the cipher well enough to decode it so quickly?

Luffy had an odd expression on her face.

"Believe me, it took forever before I realized I wasn't imagining things and that a certain idiot had been reborn as well. If Ace hadn't confirmed he found the same hidden message in the one you gave me from the Poneglyph, I would happily stayed in denial. I swear, if I have to keep cleaning up his mess I am going to find a way to drag that idiot out of the afterlife purely to kick his ass for the trouble he causes," said Luffy.

"How. Do. You. Know. The. Cipher?" Robin bit out.

"Because in my past life, I was the descendant of the idealistic idiot who _made_ it. I swear Giotto has _the_ worst handwriting, and don't get me on the spelling errors he kept making! At some point he started making them deliberately and claimed it was a cipher, when in reality he just refused to fix the mistakes he made. Next thing you know all the others after him started making their own 'errors' and claiming it was a cipher, making it a tradition," ranted Luffy.

The second she figured out what happened, she introduced her head to the desk she was practically chained to. Repeatedly. To the point it took Reborn to make her stop when he found out what was going on.

Unfortunately she was forced to make her own cipher, even if the thought of repeating the same 'errors' made her cringe, mostly because if it wasn't tradition Reborn would have taken her to task about it in a heartbeat.

Robin looked like she was near a breakdown. To have someone decipher the hidden message so easily and claim to know who wrote it... there was little wonder why.

Luffy didn't think twice about her actions.

Robin didn't need empty platitudes right now. She needed someone to anchor her to the here and now, not what happened to her home island.

She hugged the older woman and let her Sky flame gently nudge Robin's Cloud. Offering a place where she could drift freely, to have a place of unconditional acceptance where it was okay to pursue her dreams like she wanted without fear of betrayal.

Robin stiffened, before she relaxed slightly. However her Cloud wasn't convinced just yet. She would have to try again once she dealt with Crocodile once and for all, and claimed Alabasta as her territory.


	16. Chapter 16

**Good news, my mother is officially out of the hospital. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us.**

* * *

Vivi couldn't help but stare at the wanton death around her. This was terrible, and even though she managed to convince the majority of the rebels not to attack, the members Ace had missed still took the ones who hadn't believed her into going after the capital.

At least Kohza was on her side trying to stop this mess, rather than joining in.

They managed to make it to the palace, and she was fully prepared to blow the place up to try and get everyone's attention... her kingdom meant more to her than her childhood home and they could always rebuild, when Crocodile appeared.

He was clearly pissed, as he had lost two very important assets and had suffered a massive blow to his reputation that he couldn't easily fix. The Marines were already digging in to the appearance of so much Dance Powder in the casino he _previously_ owned...which shocked Vivi because she had thought Luffy's claim about her luck was a joke...and he was stuck having to choose between his master plan or covering up everything.

Considering he was here, and not trying to hide the truth anymore, she could make a wild guess which one took presidence. Either way the man was _pissed_ his plans were being undermined in a way he couldn't deal with directly or expect his claim over the country to be taken well by the World Government.

Usurping the local royals wasn't exactly something that would get you well liked by the nobility or the Celestial Dragons, and people happened to _like_ Vivi and her father.

Vivi was horror struck, but there was little she could do. And then hope appeared.

"Luffy!"

She was never more thrilled to see Monkey D. Luffy in her life. There was a sense of unstoppable resolve in her frame, and she _knew_ down to her bones that the pirate captain wouldn't hesitate to risk her life to take Crocodile down.

Which mean Vivi had to focus on the bigger picture. There was no way Crocodile didn't have a back-up plan of some sort waiting for them.

 _With Luffy_

It was official, her time of the month _sucked_. Fortunately she wasn't suffering alone... by this point Nami, Nojiko and to a lesser extent Vivi had already synchronized with her schedule. Which meant they would be extra cranky at the moment as well.

She almost pitied Baroque Works, but the majority of them were assholes that she wouldn't bother to remember the names of after this anyway.

Seeing Crocodile, a vicious grin that was far too reminiscent of Hibari at his most bloodthirsty came across her face. Nearby, Robin and the king shivered in fear, glad that her ire wasn't targeted at them.

What happened was short, brutal and very informative...if by that one meant that the two witnesses learned to never piss Luffy off as much as Crocodile managed to.

"X-BURNER!"

The blast was so big that it literally cut across the sky and caused the rain above to let loose. It also made everyone, stop, stare and wonder who the hell did that and how.

Vivi merely observed the attack and was heartily glad Luffy's only real request was that the royal family fly the Straw Hat flag after this, mostly to piss off the World Government.

If this was what the rookie captain could do when motivated to help someone they barely knew, she could at least rest assured that Luffy would move heaven and hell to protect someone she openly called an ally.

"...I take back everything I might have thought or said about your comment that Luffy is a demon when chocolate deprived," said Nojiko seriously.

"Why do you think I was _thrilled_ to be out of the line of fire when it started?" deadpanned Ace.

"Shishishi. The Bunny Princess becomes the Bunny _Queen_ ," said Belphegor amused.

"How much you want to bet they try to make her a Warlord when the story gets out?" said Ace with a wicked grin.

No way would Luffy accept that. She was determined to become Queen of the Pirates on her own merit, not relying on the coattails of the World Government.

Besides, fighting Marines was practically a tradition of all pirates, and the Warlords never got to have that sort of fun!

"No bet. The second it gets out that she has the Ranking Prince with her _and_ beat Crocodile singlehandedly, they're going to jump at giving her the offer just to keep her from causing them more trouble. It really doesn't help that Prince Belphegor likes her either," said Vivi flatly. "Or that after this mess she has the full backing of the royal family."

Luffy winced.

"Question...does being a Warlord mean paperwork?"

"It puts you in close proximity to gramps and you have to hear the old men bitch because of the chaos you cause," deadpanned Ace.

"Yeah...screw that. Garp is only tolerable in _low_ doses and snail calls only," said Luffy bluntly. "Like _hell_ am I giving him a chance to try and convince us to join the Marines by becoming a Warlord! I'd rather be a Yonko anyway."

Suddenly Luffy perked up, and an evil thought occurred to her.

"Ace...what are the requirements to being considered a Yonko?" asked Luffy sweetly.

"Hell if I know. I could ask Pops though," said Ace.

Luffy beamed at him...mostly because she heard _honest_ affection for the man Ace had decided to follow. Willingly, at that.

Xanxus _needed_ a proper fatherly role model in his life, and it seemed Whitebeard was more than up to the task of handling her spitfire of an older brother. She was happy for him.

"Now with that out of the way... Ace, I believe you know this particular ball of _sunshine_?" said Luffy grinning.

It had taken some doing to get Bon Clay into the place while his men secured the _Merry_ and hid it from the Marines. Mostly just the logistics of coordinating everything.

"Boss!" said Bon Clay with relief. He could feel his Sun flames mingling with Ace's Wrath easily, and accepted it without a second thought. It felt _good_ to be home again!

"How the _fuck_ did you find my okama, little bunny?" asked Ace baffled.

"We fished him out of the ocean before hitting Alabasta, literally. Once I realized who we were dealing with it didn't take much to convince him to help us," said Luffy snickering. "Now all we're missing is your pet shark and possibly the miserly Mist and you'll have your Elements again."

She sincerely doubted Levi had followed Xanxus to this life. Considering the training most Lightnings went through because of the bullshit ideas the mafia had, he probably found death a relief.

If he did follow, then she would have to reconsider her opinion of his loyalty to her brother.

While Bon Clay, or rather Lussuria, reconnected with Xanxus, Belphegor and Fran, Luffy ended up dragged outside the room by Vivi.

She did not like the look in the Princess' eyes at the moment. Not one bit.

 _A few hours later..._

Luffy felt beyond violated, and had been reminded repeatedly over the past four hours why she hated shopping for clothes.

Apparently Vivi had come to the decision that if she had to suffer through getting a new wardrobe...she had grown in some areas and her old clothes didn't fit 'properly' anymore... then so would Luffy. Nami and Nojiko were already kitted out and made sure to update their wardrobe regularly.

Luffy, not so much.

Much to Vivi's amusement and Luffy's discreet horror, a lot of Vivi's older clothes fit her perfectly. Considering it wouldn't really look good for the common people to wear the sort of things Vivi had in her closet, she managed to give most of the lot to Luffy.

To be fair, Luffy didn't really have that many "nice" clothing that would suit the more higher class places, and Vivi really didn't want the old clothes to go to waste. Besides, this was like doting on a little sister in a way.

Did not stop Vivi from not-so-quietly snickering at the look of undisguised horror at having to try that many clothes on that came across Luffy's face though.

Luffy shivered. At least with her gender out in the open she could enjoy a bath properly.

She completely forgot the 'scene' where Nami and the other women decide to take a joint bath, or how Nami got the boys to stop peeping.

Luffy only came out of the water when she 'felt' the boys fall off the wall. She was rather happy Ace slapped all of them, because he really didn't appreciate the idiots peeping on his baby sister like that.

Besides, if Zoro played his cards right he'd see everything and more soon enough.

* * *

Luffy was not only _unsurprised_ to find Nico Robin on the boat, but she was highly amused at the enthusiastic hug Fuuta gave the woman.

Not only had she decrypted the Poneglyph under Alabasta just as quickly as Robin had, but she also revealed a hidden compartment not even the Cloud had known existed.

She was still going to find a way to bring Giotto, or his reincarnation Gol D. Roger, back from the dead to beat the living crap out of them though. She had to clean up his mess once, she was not going to do it again!

Ace, when he found out that their suspicions were confirmed as to who Gol D. Roger was before, had looked torn between laughing his ass off (at the fact Tsunami/Luffy couldn't escape becoming the second coming of Giotto/Roger), and pissed that he only got his wish of being bloodline in this life when it was only causing him no end of grief!

For the god's sake, the government in this place literally killed off an untold number of infants and newborns simply because they wanted to kill him off before he had a chance to even grow up! Hell, his own mother somehow managed to delay his birth just so he would actually have a chance to live in the first place!

And no, none of them could figure out how the hell she pulled that off. They still had no idea how exactly Luce had Aria if she was supposedly turned into a 'toddler' like the rest of the Arcobaleno, despite still being heavily pregnant at the time.

That way laid madness, and things they were better off not knowing.

"Ahahaha... well at least she isn't as bad as Kyouya, right?" said Takeshi hopefully.

"Oh god, please let there only be _one_ of Kyouya-nii," shuddered Lambo.

"I'm still waiting to run into Reborn and the others," admitted Luffy. "Hell, I'm rather curious if Enma and his group are here too, considering Cozart managed to get here before Roger did."

The Poneglyph under Alabasta had been written, ironically enough, by Cozart. Officially it was a 'history' of Alabasta's early years.

In reality Luffy had spent enough time deciphering Giotto's crappy cipher to recognize when someone was using it for themselves. Someone with _much_ better spelling and grammar placement.

Considering the content, she could only assume it was Cozart, because there had been a book that detailed how to use the Flames of the Earth hidden inside the secret compartment.

Vivi was going to have a rough couple of months while she figured out how to use her Desert flames. At least she had a manual to work with, because Luffy had absolutely no idea how to use them.

"Are we really going to let her on board?" asked Nami suspiciously.

"I accessed what was left of Crocodile's empire while you were recovering and put it all into a seperate account. Here's the key," said Robin, tossing it to Nami.

"She can stay!" cheered Nami, causing the rest to sweat drop.

"Robin's fine, so long as we don't get between her and the thing she's trying to find. It's no different than if someone tried to get between Nami and her dream of mapping the world or Zoro and his desire to beat Mihawk," said Luffy.

With that, any complaint about Robin's presence died. If Luffy said she was safe to be around, they would believe her. If not, well they were certain by this point she could handle the older woman.

"Now we just need to get out of Alabasta, and on to the next island," said Luffy cheerfully.

"Small problem with that...the Marines have the place cordoned off for the most part while we were getting things ready," said Lambo. "They were pretty pissed about the fact that the royal family is already flying our colors."

Luffy accepted the telescope with a massive grin on her face. Now that Lambo mentioned it, she could see the Straw Hat flag flying proudly on several roofs. The Marines were _definitely_ pissed, but considering it was an order from the royals there was literally nothing the could do about it.

On the plus side, Ace had made sure she followed all the 'formality' pirates could stomach to make sure everyone knew damn well that Alabasta was now the claimed territory of the Straw Hat pirates.

She was sure Shanks was getting drunk from pride...and no small amount of booze...at the moment. Yasopp too.

"So what exactly did Bon Clay want in exchange for his help?" asked Nojiko. There had been some hushed talk between Luffy, Bon Clay and Ace, before a grin of delight came across his face along with some gesturing to the snail.

"Apparently there's someone who has a devil fruit ability of being able to change gender on a whim or something with the Revolutionaries. Sabo-nii complained about him more than once, mostly because he kept getting confused by which gender to call him by until he gave up. Bon Clay mentioned wanting to meet him, as does a good portion of his crew, so I gave him Sabo's number to help arrange a potential meeting," said Luffy. "At most they'll act as go-betweens and suppliers for the Revolutionaries or something so Sabo can keep in contact with Ace and help him out occasionally on the sly."

Sabo had been alerted Bon Clay was Lussuria, and would thus treat him as an extension of Ace. Which meant he would use the okama as a middle-man for supplies, information and other items of that nature between the two brothers. Bon Clay didn't particularly mind so long as he didn't have to join the Revolutionaries as a full member.

All Luffy knew was that the arrangement confused the hell out of Dragon, which amused _her_ greatly.

Luffy took _one_ look at the Marines gathering to stop them from leaving before a wicked grin came across her face.

"Oh this is going to be _fun_ ," she cackled. "Time to cause some chaos!"

"...It's official, you spent waaay too much time around Reborn," said Lambo.

"Wasn't he practically her father anyway?" said Takeshi.

Lambo shuddered.

They almost felt sorry for the Marines. Except they wanted to see how much chaos their 'sister' was planning to cause. Odds are she wouldn't cause any real deaths, but she would be giving the Marines headaches for months.

Luffy was cackling when she caught the _look_ on Hina and Smoker's face the second they realized she was using the six techniques only taught to certain Marines...or to Cipher Pol agents.

Robin had an odd look of her own when she realized what Luffy was using to spread havoc and untold chaos.

"Where did you learn that?"

"...My full name is Monkey D. Luffy, so why is it no one ever makes the obvious connection to Gramps unless I point it out?" Luffy half-asked.

"..."

Robin's eyes went wide when she got it, and she had to stare at Luffy.

"You're _Garp's_ granddaughter?"

"Beware the Bunny Pout," said Lambo with a snicker. "She can guilt trip people into doing damn near anything with it."

Takeshi and Fuuta snickered in agreement.

"Are you aware that Shanks..." started Robin.

"I plan to kick him in the balls at least once ever since I found out he made that series," said Luffy, cutting her off. "Or at least steal all his booze and give it all to Zoro or Whitebeard."

Zoro smirked at that one.


	17. Chapter 17

Zoro had been waiting for the perfect opportunity, and with everyone either partying after their escape, hiding away in their own little alcove (Fuuta, Robin and surprisingly enough Chopper) to read, or just generally enjoying the fact that Luffy had once again managed to pull off the impossible...well, he couldn't think of a better time.

Luffy squeaked, managed to salvage her booze, only to toss it back as quickly as she could without choking the second she registered the look in Zoro's eyes.

She quietly glanced to the captain's quarters, which had Zoro smirking.

"Give me fifteen minutes to get ready," she said quietly.

"Deal," he said.

At this point Luffy was just beyond happy with was going to be someone that she trusted explicitly...and that she wouldn't be friend-zoned until she was well into her twenties like before.

That had sucked on so many levels.

The two quietly slipped off, uncaring of the knowing look Nojiko shot them from the tiller, and went to have some fun.

Besides... Chopper had already made special medicine to act as contraceptives after Ace brought it up. The girls all had a supply on them just in case for when they found a partner they wanted to have some fun with, since Luffy was the last person to stop them.

Luffy dug through her Mist-expanded closet...thank you Fran for altering it when bribed with some of her ice cream (Belphegor had pouted for an hour before he thought to ask for some too)...and found something that felt 'right' to her intuition for this sort of event.

Hearing the knock, Luffy opened the door to reveal Zoro. There was a gleam in his eyes that said volumes of his intent. Something she was _more_ than okay with.

( _ **Just to be clear, any potential lemons/smut written for this fic will be posted on Ao3, not on Fanfiction. If you want to read it, please let me know via the review page and I'll get to work on a hopefully satisfactory one.**_ )

* * *

Nojiko had a wicked grin on her face the next morning when she spotted a sleepy Luffy. She made sure to waylay her captain right after breakfast (Luffy noticed the quality of her food went up after the revelation that she was actually a woman), and dragged Nami along with her for female solidarity...and so she wouldn't have to repeat any information second hand.

"Alright sis, what the hell did you drag us in here for?" asked Nami baffled and a little irritable.

"I'm curious as well," commented Robin, though she seemed to have an inkling if the look of dawning horror on Luffy's face was any indication.

"Oh no... no, no, no, I am not getting into any girl talk!" said Luffy with a hiss.

"Considering I managed to cover for you and Zoro last night, you had better share something," said Nojiko wickedly.

"I don't _do_ that sort of girl talk! I spent ten years pretending to be a boy, for crying out loud!" said Luffy.

Nami however went through the comment Nojiko made about covering for Luffy and Zoro, before she stared at her captain.

"No way... you and Zoro?"

"I am _not_ being friend-zoned twice. Last time was pure hell," said Luffy defensively.

"What's friend-zoned?" asked Robin curiously.

"Imagine having a cute guy who only sees you as a friend or 'sister', despite all the hints you throw at him that you're interested in him either romantically or just want a roll in the hay," clarified Luffy.

"Didn't know there was an actual term for that," said Robin.

"Isn't there some unspoken rule against captains sleeping with their crew, or at least the first mate?" asked Nami.

"Only if favoritism is involved. Do you _really_ think I would let my personal life impact the rest of the crew like that, or that I would favor Zoro over any of you?" asked Luffy seriously.

Nami shook her head. If anything Luffy treated them all like family and never had any trouble showing how much she cared about them. Some she might favor a bit more than others, but she _never_ treated them any differently than the rest.

So the idea that she would favor Zoro more than the rest of the crew simply because she was sleeping with him didn't cross her mind at all.

"So how was he?" asked Nojiko eagerly.

"I have zero complaints about his stamina, and I am _not_ getting into any details over my first time," said Luffy. "On an unrelated note I may have found a new use for some of the outfits Vivi insisted on giving me before we left."

"Wait, Vivi gave you some of her outfits?" said Nami.

"Apparently they were a size too small for her, but there was enough room in the bust area that I could fit into them just fine. And at least this way I have something nice to wear. Besides, it was free," shrugged Luffy.

"We are _so_ going clothes shopping on the next island we land on," said Nami firmly. Nojiko nodded in total agreement to that.

"Before I forget, we'll be running into Ace again very soon if what he said was right. He's chasing after a traitor who almost killed another member of the Whitebeard pirates had Ace not gotten there in time," said Luffy.

"What happened?" asked Robin.

"Apparently this Teach guy was after a specific devil fruit, and when another crew found it, he decided that rather than ask or barter for the thing he would simply take it by force. Ace was already keeping an eye on him because he knew something was up about the guy, so he managed to make it there in time to save the man's life. He's in critical condition, but there's a high chance he'll live. Problem is that Ace was the commander of the division the traitor was part of, so he's duty-bound to chase after him. Remember how Wapol was 'kicked out' of Drum kingdom when we got there?"

Nami and Nojiko nodded.

"Teach was the pirate who chased him off. The guy is a real scumbag, and I still need to find where I put his bounty poster so we know who to avoid."

What Luffy neglected to add was that she knew Teach by _another_ name and not from her current life.

Edward Teach was the real name of one of the most notorious and bloodthirsty pirates to have ever lived. Except everyone knew him by another name... Blackbeard. The man was one of the worst pirates to have ever lived and caused no end of death and destruction when he was active.

The fact that he had somehow managed to get reincarnated in this life as a pirate, or that he betrayed his 'family' over power did not surprise her in the least.

Hell, part of the reason Ace/Xanxus had kept an eye on the man was because he had drawn the parallels of what he knew of the historical pirate and didn't want a repeat! That, and Teach was shady as hell in his opinion.

Nojiko was mildly disappointed by girl talk being sidelined, but she drew some amusement that Luffy might be more open to talking about that sort of thing with the other girls once she got used to actually _being_ a girl again, rather than hide what she was.

* * *

 _With Zoro..._

Chopper was looking at Zoro confused.

"Why do you smell like Luffy?" asked the reindeer.

It only took three seconds before that question registered, and had Lambo, Fuuta and Takeshi all whipping their heads towards the annoyed swordsman.

"Well at least she didn't have to wait until her twenties this time," commented Lambo. Fuuta and Takeshi nodded.

"And maybe now we have someone to throw at her as a sacrifice whenever that time of the month starts to draw close," muttered Fuuta.

"What does that mean?" demanded Zoro.

"You remember what she did to Crocodile?" asked Takeshi.

Zoro nodded.

"Well she tends to get extra bloodthirsty and mean whenever a certain time of the month rolls around and there's nothing to help her deal with it. I think most of the damage she caused was because she was already pissed at him and there was no chocolate to soothe the beast," said Takeshi nervously.

"Which means we are going to be throwing you at her and insuring you can do things like take her out on dates to spare the rest of us," deadpanned Lambo. Fuuta nodded heartily at that.

Zoro wasn't the only one staring at them.

"You're okay with the fact he slept with Luffy?" asked Gin incredulous.

"We love her like a sister, but even she needs a chance to relax and unwind. Besides, even Zoro wouldn't be able to withstand all of us if he broke her heart," said Takeshi with a dark glint in his eyes. "That, and last time she was so stressed and overworked that it was a miracle she didn't kill herself."

Tsunami had been overworked and stressed to the point she had started to develop ulcers from it all. Shamal had not been happy when he discovered those, which was what prompted Fon to step in and insure she relaxed...one way or another.

He didn't intend to go so far as sleep with her, but one thing lead to another. He didn't mind though... Tsunami was someone who he would have been attracted to even before he was cursed.

"That being said, could you at least not go at it like bunnies in front of us?" asked Lambo, only half joking.

"You kidding? That would cut into my training time! Besides, I highly doubt Luffy would consider that idea even if the rest of the crew was okay with it," said Zoro.

That made the rest of the guys relax. So long as the two weren't _too_ overt about the shift in their relationship, they could easily learn to ignore it. Besides, Luffy wasn't the sort of person who would favor her lover over the rest of the crew, when she considered them family anyway.

* * *

Word spread of the events in Alabasta...and the fact that the island was now considered part of the territory of the Straw Hat crew. The fact that the royal family not only allowed it, but _endorsed_ the idea of being a claimed territory spread like wildfire.

Garp didn't believe the 'story' that the royal family had given the World Government for why they allowed the Straw Hats to claim their island.

Vivi and her father were nothing like most nobility, so the idea that the princess had 'outsourced' to a rookie crew from the East Blue in order to kick Crocodile out because he was causing far too much trouble sounded completely made up to him.

It was more likely his adorable little granddaughter had decided to help the princess when she found out what was going on, and in exchange convinced the royal family to let them stake their claim on the place once Crocodile was dead.

Alabasta was a bit ambitious for a newly claimed territory, but it meant that people would take his grandchild seriously as a potential major player for what she did to Crocodile.

Garp had to wince at the fact that when he compared the time frame of Crocodile's death to what he knew of Luffy's "schedule", the timelines were able to match to a rough estimate of the one time of the month Luffy made him and a number of others completely _terrified_ of her.

That being said, he was discreetly proud of his granddaughter for being able to pull that off. Even if he still wanted to give her his Fist of Love for becoming a pirate in the first place.

* * *

Although the situation on board the _Merry_ was slightly awkward, finding out that Zoro and Luffy had potentially become lovers, things settled down to a new normal soon enough.

Zoro and Luffy were not "going at it like bunnies" at every opportunity as Takeshi ahd put it. Nor was Luffy showing any extra favortism to Zoro because they had shared her bed. Aside from being a little more affectionate to the swordsman, nothing had really changed that much between them.

Zoro was interested in Luffy as a woman, but he would never allow that to interfere with his desire to beat Mihawk and become the strongest swordsman alive.

Luffy might find Zoro attractive, but she still wanted to take Gol D. Roger's place as the next "King", and it was rather hard to do that when you were stuck raising children or being a wife. At most it meant that the two would have little romantic moments when the mood struck, but neither would _ever_ allow it to impede their dreams.

Besides, Luffy was such a tomboy that the idea of acting like a typical girl who found a boyfriend never actually crossed her mind once. At this point Nojiko, Nami and oddly enough Robin were slowly trying to ease their captain back into a more female mindset considering she had been acting like a boy for all these years.

The fact they got to enjoy trying to make Zoro blush, or on two noteable occasions have to hide a sudden nosebleed at the outfits they tricked Luffy into wearing for the day, was just a major bonus.

(Though Luffy made sure to note which outfits got the strongest reactions. Who knew Zoro had a thing for cat ears?)

By the time they reached the next island, a new normal had settled among the crew.

Coincidentally this was the first time Zoro would have a chance to take Luffy out on a proper date.

Sanji had already made certain that Luffy was more or less stuffed, so it wouldn't do too much damage to Zoro's wallet if they ate out.

Considering Zoro felt his mouth go dry when Luffy walked out of her room wearing one of her new outfits, he had zero complaints about taking his captain out on a date. He got to spend most of the day alone with her, while everyone explored the town. They would meet up later the next morning to resupply and explore before heading on to the next island.


	18. Chapter 18

"So Captain, any particular reason we're on this island?" asked Robin.

"Yeah actually...I'm going to awake everyone's flames and it's best not to do that on a ship. Fire and wood don't really mix after all," said Luffy.

Zoro sat up at that.

"Wait, we're finally going to do more than meditation exercises?"

Luffy nodded.

"From here on out the enemies are going to be much tougher, and I want us to be prepared in case we run into that bastard Teach. Not to mention the Marines are going to send stronger opponents after us after the way I dealt with Crocodile and the fact they openly sent _me_ an invitation to become a Warlord," said Luffy, rolling her eyes. "Which is why Ace gave me a list of Haki training exercises...apparently the ones gramps gave us were really half-assed since he didn't want us to progress too quickly."

The Six techniques were one thing, but Haki was something he didn't want them messing with. Besides, they'd figure _that_ out eventually by the time they hit the Grand Line so he didn't see a problem with it.

"What's Haki?"

"A way to make Devil Fruit users, _including_ Logia types, touchable by normal weapons," said Luffy bluntly. "There's a third type, but I have my suspicions about it so we're mostly going to ignore it."

She had the distinct feeling Conqueror's Haki was tied directly into Sky flames. It would explain a _lot_ about it.

"The first exercise we're going to work on is waking your flames up. This also ties into showing you how to use Haki for the first time, so hopefully we'll have some progress before the log pose resets. I really, really want to get something done before the Rainbow Mists shows up, since I plan to rob it."

Nami perked up at that, as did Robin...for two different reasons.

"What are we waiting for then?" said Nami eagerly.

Luffy grinned.

"First requirement of Dying Will Flames...and yes Robin I will explain that particular phrase later, as well as more about what I know of the man on the Poneglyph that was on Ohara...is desperation. The sort of desperation that comes from a purely life and death experience when all hells broken loose and the will to _live_ past death kicks in."

Seeing the expression on the faces of Sanji, Nami, Robin, Chopper, Gin and Zoro, they knew exactly the sort of desperation she was talking about.

Takeshi and Lambo merely grinned.

"Alright, Takeshi, Lambo, show them what Lightning and Rain can do," said Luffy.

"Aye, aye boss!" said Lambo with a smirk.

He charged at Takeshi, igniting his Lightning Flame...once he knew it was present in this life, it hadn't taken much to ignite them again. The same could be said for Takeshi.

Seeing the normally smiling swordsman using _blue fire_ on his katana only for it to be blocked by green flames from the youngest member on the crew...well it was certainly an eyeopener.

"You think we have _that_?" said Nojiko incredulous.

"Actually I think you have the same Flame as Takeshi, Nojiko-nee. Zoro and Usopp, on the other hand has the same kind as Lambo. Gin, I'm fairly certain you have Storm Flames, while Nami is a mixture of Storm and Mist. Robin, you're a Cloud while Sanji and Chopper are Suns. And no, I have no idea why they're all named after the weather for some reason."

Luffy settled into a familiar lecture mode.

"The Dying Will Flames of the Sky can be categorized into seven types. Storm, Sky, Sun, Lightning, Rain, Mist and Cloud. Their properties go as followed... Disintegration, Harmony, Activation, Hardening, Tranquility, Construction, and Propagation. Their strength and the darkness of the color depends on the purity...or the strength one has to live in tough situations, and power behind it, which can often be determined by the family one's from. Certain families often run with a specific flame type, so they often awaken with it."

"Which one are you then?" asked Gin.

"Luffy is a Sky, or the 'royal' flame," said Takeshi grinning, throwing an arm on her shoulder in a brotherly way. "Their main purpose is to call the others to them into a whole, and to bond them together as a family. Before, Skies were considered practically royalty because of the effects harmony had on the other six."

"It was also the rarest, with Clouds coming in at a close second," said Lambo.

"I noticed you said nothing of what Fuuta has," said Robin.

"Fuuta is a slightly different case. He's an Earth flame, which means he can manipulate gravity to an extent. I have no idea how to train that," admitted Luffy.

"I've mostly gotten a handle on it again, now that Crocodile is gone Luffy-nee," said Fuuta helpfully. "It was hard to train it when I had to keep an eye out for him."

Luffy pulled him into a hug.

"So what do each of them do, besides the self-explanatory ones like Storm?" asked Nami pale. No wonder Luffy wanted them off the ship, if one of their powers was _disintegration!_

"Well for starters, with Lightning Zoro can harden the edge of his swords or Usopp can harden the _Merry_ to withstand a little more damage. It might tire him out after, but it would be good practice for emergencies. Rains can induce a sense of calm...and if they're really creative about it can freeze things into ice. Storms, well Disintegration is fairly self explanatory as you've already said Nami. Suns are considered the healers of the lot, as they can activate cells to heal faster, both externally and internally. I have the feeling that's why messing with the Rumble Ball doesn't really do as much damage to you Chopper, since your flames could be healing any mistakes you make as quickly as they form... you could easily activate every nerve ending in the body, or you could activate the white blood cells present to speed up clotting in a bleeding patient," commented Luffy.

Chopper perked up at that.

"Mists can create things out of nothing, including massive storms that didn't exist a minute ago...or fake berri when you're pissed at some official trying to swindle you out of your money and you want to get your revenge while still looking innocent..." said Luffy, which caused Nami to perk up.

"Clouds...well Clouds are tricky. Actually I think your Devil Fruit was perfect for you Robin because it embodies propagation pretty well. You can basically multiply your body with it...but with Cloud flames you can also propagate the force behind your attacks...or the amount of weapons you have."

Robin perked up at that with interest.

"So...who's ready to get started?" asked Luffy with a smile.

* * *

By the end of the week, only Zoro, Sanji, Nami and Chopper had any luck getting their flames active. Robin almost had it, but if she managed to pull it off she was keeping quiet.

As Luffy suspected, Chopper had been using Sun flames internally for years and had no idea. She just helped him to bring it out externally, and coached him in how to use it to heal...or to attack.

As the group sailed off in order to see the Rainbow Mist...and to rob the contents within... they worked on Haki, which most of them found much easier to use.

Gin, for reasons of his own, decided not to mess with Flames at the moment.

As they sailed towards the island where the Rainbow Mist could be found, they ran into some Marines.

Strangely, Luffy didn't seem all that upset about spotting them.

"Shishishi...how about we give them a minor heart attack before heading on?" asked Luffy. Seeing the matching smirks of the crew, Luffy went to work.

Needless to say it gave the Marine Headquarters a nasty shock hearing the report of Luffy using the Six Techniques. Even if she only mildly crippled the ship.

On the plus side, Luffy would have conclusive proof that a certain chaotic pain in the ass had followed her.

Lambo and Fuuta took _one_ look at the girl with the pigtails before they had near identical reactions.

"I-Pin!"

The girl's head whipped towards them in shock...which swiftly turned into delight.

"Lambo! Fuuta-nii!"

She tackled both of them with a massive hug.

"How did you find me?" she asked.

"We didn't. We came here to rob the Rainbow Mist with Nee-san," said Lambo grinning widely.

I-Pin's eyes widened.

"Nee-san is here too?" she asked hopefully.

I-Pin found herself glomped by a very happy Luffy, and she snuggled into the older girl's arms the second she registered the familiar flames.

"I missed you, _big sister_ ," said I-Pin.

"I missed you too, _little sister_ ," said Luffy. It was strange to have Chinese roll off her tongue after so long, but certain words she would never forget how to pronounce. "So, who brought you here?"

"Viper and Verde are here too. _Papa_ said it was alright if I went with them to see the Mists since this is Paradise."

Luffy lit up with hope.

"Does that mean..."

I-Pin nodded.

"Reborn is the captain of the most successful bounty hunting crew on the Grand Line known as the Arcobaleno. They named their ship _Tsunami_ ," said I-Pin. "All the other Arcobaleno are there, except the Sky. Fon managed to find me very early and I've been with them as cabin girl ever since."

"I'm happy for you," said Luffy.

"By the way... have you ever met Red Haired Shanks? Reborn was wondering where he found a character to base his books off of that sounded far too much like you."

"...I am still going to kick Shank's ass for that. I'm a rubber girl, not a bunny girl!"

I-Pin beamed at her.

"There you are. That idiot will annoy me if he found I lost you," said a voice nearby.

Luffy turned to face them...and stared. She could have been looking at a slightly longer haired, older version of Nami with indigo colored eyes and a smaller bust.

I-Pin went to explain...only for Nami and Nojiko to find Luffy instead.

Needless to say there was shock on both sides as they registered the two ginger haired women's appearance.

"Is it just me, or does that woman look a lot like Nami?" asked Gin.

"It's not you," said Usopp.

Luffy looked between the two, felt the familiar flame of Viper, and cackled.

"I knew that miserly attitude wasn't a coincidence!" she said amused. "Figures you would be Viper's daughter!"

Viper, who was the other ginger haired woman, snapped out of her shock. She glared at Luffy.

"How do you know me?" she demanded.

"Xanxus, Belphegor, Fran and Lussuria are going to be thrilled you're here too...Mammon," said Luffy.

Viper looked at them hard, before recognition hit.

"Just as that pain in the ass is going to be very happy to hear that his favorite student is alive and well."

Nami stared hard at her mother in no little amount of shock.

"If you're my mother then why..."

"By the time we managed to find you, you had already found a new home with a sister. The East Blue was far safer for a child and we didn't want to disrupt your life by taking you from your new family since you seemed happy enough. The New World is not the safest place to raise children, especially if you're constantly on the sea."

"Pretty much the same reason Dragon gave me up then," said Luffy.

Viper stared at Luffy in shock at that information, but kept her silence.

"By the way Nami, you might want to ask Viper on how to best use your Mist Flames. They were a master at making solid illusions," said Luffy.

Nami...was still in shock her mother was alive and well. Viper said nothing at the way Nojiko kept eyeing her warily, as if she thought the woman would take her sister away from her.

* * *

 _Some time later..._

Fon was the one to hear the Den Den Mushi go off, and was the one to pick it up. The only one who used that particular number was Viper, after all.

"What is it?"

" _I found Nami. She's on the Grand Line and with a pirate crew. And you'll never guess who the captain is."_

Fon sat down in shock.

"Who?"

Just then, I-Pin's voice came on the line.

" _Papa, Big sister is here too! She brought Lambo, Fuuta and Take-nii with her, and big sister Nami is with her crew!"_

There was only _one_ person I-Pin called "big sister" in Chinese, and add on top of that the familiar names of Lambo, Fuuta and Takeshi...

"So Tsunami is here as well? Reborn will be thrilled to hear that."

" _She's the granddaughter of Monkey D. Garp and the daughter of that fool Dragon. Her name is Luffy now. And you remember those weird parallels Reborn kept finding in that series he's addicted to but won't admit it?"_

"Yes?"

" _Shanks came into contact with her shortly after she went flame active and she conned him out of a snail as well as the number to his ship. Apparently the series is about her, but he deliberately altered a few facts, such as the fruit she ate. She's a Rubber woman, not a Zoan type,"_ said Viper amused beyond belief. _"Also Xanxus, Belphegor, Fran, Lussuria, Dino and Romario are here as well. They have yet to find others, but considering most of them were relatively close to Tsunami..."_

"Then the possibility of Kyouya being here skyrockets," said Fon. He had looked, upon finding I-Pin but he had yet to find a trace of his former grandson. The fact Tsunami was here, as well as two of her Guardians gave him hope again.

" _I intend to charge Reborn through the nose on the fact both his students are alive here, so don't you dare tell him anything until we get back,"_ said Viper.

"Of course dear. In fact I think I'll start setting up one our special nights for when you return. It's been a while since we had some fun," said Fon cheekily.

" _Shut up! I'm charging you for that!"_ said Viper. However Fon could hear the blush in her tone, which made him smirk. He chuckled at the fact he had manged to break down her Tsundere behavior long enough to marry him this time.

He just wished they hadn't lost their daughter, but at least he knew where she was and how to keep an eye on her.

Besides, he knew Nami would be safe with Tsunami... or rather Luffy. That woman would move heaven and earth to protect her precious people.

"Could you put I-Pin on the line for a moment?"

The snail shifted, and I-Pin was on the other end.

" _Papa?"_

"I-Pin, if you wish to travel with Lambo and the others until we meet up, I have no problem with that. If nothing else you can train with Luffy and the others and help them get ready for the New World, since I have no doubt she'll make her way here to see Reborn again."

The snail lit up with a smile. The creatures were strange, but he had quickly learned to ignore them.

" _Really papa?"_

"Besides, this means you can train with your big sister and see if Nami is any good at martial arts,"said Fon.

" _Big sister Nami uses a staff to fight with Papa. So far Big Sister has them training in Flames and Haki."_

"Well who better to teach them how to use Haki on their weapons than my little tigress?" said Fon.

I-Pin smiled at him with delight, before they had to hang up. Fon had no doubt Viper would pass along the Den Den Mushi number for their ship once things settled.


	19. Chapter 19

Chopper had to admit it was a little weird being hugged so much. He had gotten used to the idea of being the 'weird creature' on Drum Island, where his presence was barely tolerated except by Doctorine and Lambo.

Now though... he found it really nice to be part of a proper herd where he was not only accepted, but loved as an equal member. That, and Luffy really knew where to rub to get his back leg to go nuts and was good at brushing his fur.

I-Pin had taken one look at him before letting out a sound of delight and hugging him without a second thought.

"So is he part of the crew too, _Xie Xie?_ " she asked eagerly.

Luffy grinned.

"This is Chopper, he's our ship's doctor."

"He's too cute! The only other time I've seen anything like him was when Reborn was visiting his son Law and he brought Bepo with him!" said I-Pin.

Luffy suddenly had a very odd look on her face.

"Hold up... did you say _son_?" said Luffy.

I-Pin nodded.

"One of Reborn's flings became pregnant and she had a son, but she married someone else. He barely got there in time to save him and his half-sister when the Marines attacked. Law wasn't happy finding out his father wasn't who he thought he was, but at least he stopped trying to beat Reborn."

"Law, as in Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death? That Law?" said Luffy with an odd tone in her voice. "As in the captain of the Heart pirates who's ship happens to be a yellow submarine of all things?"

I-Pin nodded, not understanding why her big sister was acting so funny or how she knew so much about Law.

Luffy muttered something under her breath in Italian, shaking her head in disbelief. I-Pin never would get the full story on how Luffy knew Law.

"So _Big Sister_ , when can I expect little nieces and nephews out of you and Zoro?" asked I-Pin impishly.

Viper raised a glass to I-Pin for that flawlessly delivered quiry. It hadn't taken much to guess that Luffy was sleeping with her first mate.

Luffy didn't so much as stumble. She smirked at I-Pin.

"Not anytime soon, if Chopper's medicine holds up. I want to at least reach the New World and establish myself as a major player before I even consider kids."

Zoro blushed upon hearing that, as he hadn't really thought much of having kids when he started sleeping with his captain. Now that she said it though, he couldn't _not_ think of the repercussions if the medicine failed.

He downed his beer and promptly got another. He needed to get very drunk to get the mental images out of his head.

Luffy beamed at him, which made it even _worse._

"Now, about the contents of the Rainbow Mist," said Viper, changing the subject with ease.

Luffy smirked and went straight into "boss mode" as Reborn had once called it.

"You get all the big items and we'll focus more on the books and the sea stones. We're going to need them more than you will in the near future, especially once we run into that traitor Teach on Jaya."

"You still haven't explained your grievance with the former member of Whitebeard's crew."

"Long story short, he was part of the same division Xanxus was under his supervision and he nearly killed a division commander over a Devil Fruit. If Xanxus hadn't gotten to him in time, he would have died and Blackbeard's crime would have taken much longer to be found out," said Luffy simply.

Viper's eyes hardened at that.

"Teach nearly killed a member of his former crew over a _Devil Fruit_? While under Xanxus' command?"

Luffy nodded.

"Thatch had possession of the Dark Dark fruit, which can replicate the effects of an Earth Flame from what I can tell on top of making things dark. Teach had been looking for it for a long time, so when the opportunity arose he didn't hesitate to take it even though it meant murder of a crewmember he had served with for years," said Luffy. "I also have it on good authority he intends to work with the Marines and take over the now open position of Warlord since I took out Crocodile and refused the offer."

Viper's eyes turned hard at that.

"Do you think the one chasing him would be amendable to a compromise of sorts in exchange for some...assistance?"

"I'm fairly certain Xanxus would have no problem with his Mist helping him capture the traitor and claim the bounty on his corpse, so long as he runs it by Whitebeard first," said Luffy.

Luffy took out a snail and called her big brother.

" _What?"_ he demanded annoyed.

"I have a surprise for you~! Guess who's offering to help you take out Teach in exchange for his bounty?"

" _Who did you find this time, Bunny boss?"_

Viper smirked and went to the snail.

" _Time is money. Don't waste more of mine than you have to... Boss,"_ she said in familiar Italian.

" _...Mammy?"_ said Belphegor with hope.

"Apparently the Arcobaleno...except the Sky for some reason, are in the New World acting as a bounty hunting crew. We ran into Viper on the island where the Rainbow Mist is supposed to manifest, along with Verde and I-Pin,"said Luffy.

"Tell Whitebeard I would be more than happy to offer some...assistance...in capturing the traitor so long as I get the bounty on Teach and his crew," said Viper.

" _I won't have to. He knows I'm getting outside help since I confirmed Luffy's information the bastard is working with the Marines. So long I deal the finishing blow, he doesn't have much of a problem with it. However he doesn't want the Devil Fruit that caused this mess anywhere near the crew."_

"In other words he'd be willing to ignore it if one of our crew happens to get it and obtains the power instead," summed up Luffy.

"Just so we're clear, _boss_ , I have no intention of leaving the crew I'm with now. However an alliance would be possible once I alert Reborn to the full situation. At best you can tell Whitebeard that he won't have to fear any of us going after his men from now on so long as they remain loyal," said Viper.

" _Fair enough. He's still confused why the son of a Celestial Dragon was so eager to follow me, and why I keep exchanging cups of friendship with other pirate crews in Paradise. Hell, Marco has no idea why he keeps getting info packets from the Revolutionaries on a regular basis on the islands that are claimed by Whitebeard!"_

Luffy snorted at that.

She highly doubted the Marines would ever figure out the source of the odd 'friendship' between the pirates and the Revolutionaries as an agreement between three siblings to stay in touch that were lucky enough to be placed in useful areas.

Viper took notice of the way Luffy said that.

"Are you telling me that you have an active information network fully established?" she said intently.

"I'm saying Dino has an informant network and is making use of the contacts we've been making to get word out in a timely manner as well as supplies. So long as you know the right passcodes and phrases, you can get information on almost anything you need as well as supplies to reach the next island on the chain, depending on the boat you use. Drives Dragon crazy because he has no idea how the hell the entire thing works or how Sabo pulled it off so quickly."

Viper looked at Luffy intently.

"I'll give you Dino's number if you agree to combine your informant network with his and make it more efficient," said Luffy.

"Deal," said Viper without hesitation.

Information was power, and they had found their network sadly lacking in several areas. Finding out Reborn's first student had made one efficient enough to create data packets and have a supply chain going on was very valuable indeed, and combining what they had established already with one they hadn't known was there was only sensible.

Besides, this meant she could hold the location of Reborn's other student over his head.

Luffy gave Viper the number, and within minutes the miser was already dialing up Sabo.

" _Who is this?"_

" _Hi,_ Dino-nii _, guess who I found?"_ said Luffy cheerfully in Italian.

" _Did something happen to your snail?"_ asked Dino confused in the same language.

He had the numbers of the snails he gave Luffy, and this wasn't one of them.

" _No, but I found someone who could help you make your informant network even better."_

" _Time is money, Bucking Horse. Do not waste mine or I will make you suffer,"_ said Viper crisply in Italian.

The shock on the snail's face was hilarious.

" _No way... you found VIPER?"_ he said in disbelief.

" _Even better... she's Nami's mother. And Fon is her father!"_ said Luffy with glee.

" _Does that mean..."_

" _Reborn is here too. I'll let you talk to Viper for a bit,_ Dino-nii."

There was an intense discussion in Italian between the two, which culminated with Viper agreeing to share their informant network with Dino's own and vice versa. The power of information was not something to be taken lightly, as Dino had quickly realized, and the odd agreement between him, the Whitebeard pirates and Luffy was not something to be dismissed.

Luffy had successfully helped him to make contact with actual royalty who had access to information that had previously been cut off from him after he abandoned his noble titles.

Since Vivi was still pissed that the Marines had done exactly nothing to deal with Crocodile and the atrocities of the World Government that she had privately confirmed when Dino pointed them out, she was putting every effort into reconnecting with the rest of the nobles and the World Government in order to pass on critical information to the others.

Having actual royalty in their network helped immensely as Vivi had access to books that the World Government normally banned in the hands of private citizens. Besides, it made her feel useful to the crew that saved her kingdom, which was all the motivation she needed.

Viper was exceedingly pleased upon learning Luffy had added actual _royalty_ to the informant network on top of the information that was open to them having a Celestial Dragon's son with the Whitebeard crew.

As far as they were concerned, anyone willing to put up with Belphegor's boredom deserved a damn medal. His fickle nature and the fact he tended to get rather bloodthirsty when the mood struck him was well known among the World Government.

Odds were they were hoping he'd have another one of his "Prince the Ripper" moments while with the Whitebeards and removed several nuisances before being taken down for them. Like Whitebeard himself for instance.

Anything to keep him from causing _them_ any more headaches.

Fortunately for Dino, the Rainbow Mist makes it's grand appearance.

Luffy grins and was the first on the _Merry_. Easier to rob the place blind if you already have the ship to put it on with you after all.

* * *

Luffy takes _one_ look at the 'Guardian' of the Rainbow Mists...before she face-palms.

" _Gods dammit Daemon, you better not give me as many headaches as you did last time! And stop it with that damn laugh of yours!"_ shouted Luffy in Italian.

Daemon Spade stops his "Nufufufu" laugh and stares at her.

" _How do you know my name, pirate?"_ he demands in the same language.

She glares at him.

" _The same way I know Elena would have been ashamed of the mess you created with the Vongola,"_ deadpanned Luffy. She let a little bit of Sky out, and recognition hit.

" _Nufufufufu..._ So the Vongola Decimo was reincarnated!"

"Actually I'm fairly certain Gol D. Roger was Giotto's reincarnation. No one could possibly mimic his piss poor 'cipher' otherwise," deadpanned Luffy. "And it explains why the Pirate King left such a mess behind."

Daemon growled at the reminder of his former Sky. He always liked Tsunami better than Giotto.

"What do you mean, mimic his 'cipher'?"

"I mean the Poneglyphs all have a 'secret code' on them, and I know for a fact one of them was written by Gol D. Roger himself. Took me only five seconds to recognize the Primo's so called 'cipher', which only those close to the Vongola knew was actually a result of Giotto's less than stellar education considering the time period."

Only nobles got a real education in those days. The fact Giotto knew how to read and spell enough to be understood was something of a miracle.

Daemon looked irritable now.

"What are they doing?" he demanded.

"Robbing the place of anything of worth... or in the case of Verde getting measurements. Want to join my crew and cause no end of headaches to the so-called World Government?" asked Luffy.

"Luffy, you can't be seriously asking a _ghost_ to join our crew," said Nojiko in disbelief.

"We find some poor twit compatible enough and he'll take care of the rest," shrugged Luffy. "I'd rather have someone like him on our side than against us and it means Nami would have someone to practice her Mist flames with. Daemon could be quite...vicious... when he felt the need."

Takeshi and Lambo winced. They remember the whole headache of dealing with Daemon the first time...and how the ghost _somehow_ came back a lot less 'murderous' than before only to attach himself to Tsunami and stick around to annoy the hell out of Mukuro.

After a while they learned to ignore him, but it was really annoying having to deal with the weird laugh contests Daemon and Mukuro kept getting into.

They never did figure out if Daemon somehow knocked a woman up while possessed or if Mukuro really was his descendant with Elena.

Either way the fact he was still around now did not surprise them in the least. Daemon was tenacious like that.

"Who knows, we might run into Elena's reincarnation later anyway. Besides... Daemon would know how to train flames better than I could considering my own education was half-assed at best," said Luffy with a shrug.

Nojiko had a headache. Gin could relate.

Daemon lead Luffy to an area where an odd necklace was, and once she put it on she felt her Sky 'click' into harmony with Daemon's ghost.

"You attached youself to a _necklace_?" she said incredulous.

Daemon shrugged.

"It was easier than having to maintain myself without a body to possess and the stone is one of the few that remained that could channel my flames properly."

Luffy had learned a long time ago that sometimes, it wasn't worth the explanation of asking "how" or "why". This was clearly one of those times.


	20. Chapter 20

Luffy had to hope that they reached Shabaody soon. With the addition of Verde, Viper and I-Pin (thankfully only one was sticking around and Daemon was incorporeal most of the time) the limits of the Merry were stretching dangerously thin. As it was, Sanji accepted the challenge of keeping everyone fed with glee.

Though he accepted the quiet help of Luffy and Takeshi doing most of the prep work for him and I-Pin's limited ability to cook...even if she had acquired Fon's taste for high spice content.

Luffy would admit, she never saw the odd attraction between Robin and Daemon happening. The Cloud and the ghostly Mist had hit it off within hours the second Robin found out Daemon remembered several centuries worth of history. Better yet, with a little assistance from Luffy who allowed him to use her own limited Mist flames, he could _project_ it for Robin to enjoy from his point of view.

Daemon liked having an appreciative audience, and Robin enjoyed his old school charm that came from being born to nobility and the fact he had _lived_ through so much history and possessed enough people to pick up _their_ memories of important events.

Luffy wished the odd pair the best of luck, especially once Daemon found a proper body to steal that wouldn't wear out. At least now she wasn't the only one with a boyfriend, even if the attraction had yet to become obvious.

She found it pretty telling Robin had quietly taken to wearing the necklace containing Daemon's ghost around her neck, even if he was still connected to Luffy. She really didn't need a ghost watching her nights with Zoro, even if she was very, very glad Viper showed her how to make the room soundproof.

Zoro definitely appreciated it, since it meant Luffy didn't have to hold back her voice.

"I'm rather curious as to why you've put so much emphasis on building an information network," said Robin.

She was sitting at a table with Viper, while Daemon hovered around nearby.

"Information is power, particularly accurate intel that can be delivered quickly to the front lines. Tell me, do you know _why_ the World Government has largely been successful at staying _the_ major powers on the seas despite the prevelance of pirates? And I don't mean because of it's numbers," said Viper.

"Not particularly. I would assume it has something to do with the information on Pluton," said Robin bitterly.

Viper's smile was thin and had no warmth.

"It's because they're able to quickly mobilize their stronger powers and communicate quickly with each other. They are able to share information quickly, accurately and to the right areas in order to be effective at curtailing any attempts to seize control. Which is why the Revolutionary Army has been making them a lot more nervous than they would openly admit... Sabo's network is starting to reach levels that could rival theirs, even if they _do_ have the 'general public' on their side."

Robin took a pull of her drink.

"Sounds fascinating."

"Do you want to know why Pluton makes them so nervous? Why they want you dead so badly simply for being able to read a dead language?" said Viper.

Seeing she had Robin's full attention, Viper smirked.

"Do you know how easy it is for a word to get misspelled, particularly if the source has been altered or mangled in any way?"

Robin gave the miser a flat look. She was an archeologist... running into that problem was almost a given.

"Considering what Luffy told me about Gold Roger and the fact that she found a compartment that had detailed instructions on how to awaken and train Earth flames and their set, I believe Pluton is simply a code word for Dying Will Flames."

"Isn't that the same thing Luffy and Daemon have been training us to use?" blinked Robin.

Viper smirked...it was so nice working with someone who had an active brain and used it properly.

"Did you know in the old days, before the world was reshaped by the melting glaciers, that 'Pluto' was known as a god who ruled the underworld?"

Luffy, who had walked in on that, paused and gave Viper and incredulous look.

"Wait, are you telling me some idiot _deliberately_ misspelled the Roman god of the underworld in an attempt to hide what they were actually talking about? And that they used the Primo's so-called cipher on _purpose_?"

"From the details you've given and what I've found while researching into the topic, I'm almost certain that Pluton is a codeword for Flames. I wouldn't be surprised if That Man was behind it, shortly before he either died or went into hiding. Particularly when you take into account who is actually in charge of Impel Down...but we knew it by another name."

Luffy stopped, and stared at Viper in absolute shock.

"No. There is _no way_ Impel Down is actually..."

"Imagine my shock when I got a photograph of one of the permanent guards of the place...it certainly explains why there have been no known escape attempts."

"Oh gods... You have got to be kidding me! Impel Down is actually the _Vindicare_?!" said Luffy in exasperation.

"What's going on?" asked Lambo.

"Impel Down is actually Vindicare, which means Bermuda and the others are still around too. Not surprising, considering what they are, but still!" said Luffy in complaint.

"Okay, what are you guys talking about and what could possibly make someone as mellow as Luffy _that_ exasperated?" asked Nami.

"I know who runs Impel Down. I bet anything they're going to pay a lot of attention to us once they find out Daemon has decided to join our crew. On an unrelated note, I'm going to have to steal the kitchen for a while once they notice he's out again Sanji," said Luffy tiredly.

Lambo, Takeshi, Fuuta and I-Pin all snorted at that.

"I forgot Bermuda kept coming to mooch off the brownies you made, nee-san," said Lambo snickering.

"I remember Jaeger swiping all the special chocolates you had in stock!" laughed I-Pin.

"Yeah, those guys were addicted to your baked treats," laughed Takeshi.

Fuuta almost went to rank Luffy's baking skills. But he highly doubted that she would have let something like that slip.

Especially now that she knew she could convert the Vindice to her side all over again by bribing them with her Sky-saturated food.

* * *

The reunion between Belphegor and Viper was short, sweet and entirely what Luffy would have expected of the two of them.

It also gave the group time to come up with a plan of attack in regards to Teach and the limited information Luffy remembered of his crew.

To that end, Viper and Verde were sent on ahead with a snail. If anyone recognized them it would immediately be assumed she was there for a bounty with Verde as her back-up.

Viper was armed with all the 'confirmed' prisoners of Impel Down who's death had never been publicized. Most of the dangerous ones anyway.

Luffy couldn't remember the specifics of who was on Blackbeard's crew, but she did remember that he had made a deal to free some of the prisoners of Impel Down to serve under him.

It was a good thing she did, because Viper positively ID'd several former prisoners on Jaya as well as Teach.

However thanks to Observation Haki, Ace couldn't exactly go in and deal with the bastard. Neither could Bel or Fran.

Which left Luffy's group, since Teach didn't know they were allied with Ace since he didn't trust the traitor at all. He only ever referred to Luffy as his 'tomboy sister', and all the Wanted Posters of Luffy until now would make everyone believe Monkey D. Luffy was a boy.

Luffy abused her Sky flames to make her in 'harmony' with her surroundings, thus hiding the fact she had active Haki.

It didn't take much to locate Teach...he was even more disgusting up close than in the books.

She waited for his guard to be lowered because of her gender...before she sensed Ace come within range of her sensory technique.

Then she sent Teach flying out the bar and into the waiting fist of Ace.

Dead silence.

At least until Teach realized that Ace had found him and not in a place of his choosing.

Between Ace and Luffy, who kept Teach pinned down, and the Straw Hats who were keeping Teach's so-called _crew_ from interferring, things weren't looking good for Teach at all.

 _Especially_ since Daemon slipped a seastone into the man's boot, cutting his new found powers off and making him weak as a dog.

"You bastard. Where's your sense of honor as a pirate?" demanded Teach. He was _not_ happy that his schemes were crashing down around him.

"That's rich, coming from you. You almost killed a member of the Whitebeard's over a Devil Fruit _and_ you've been making side deals with the damn Marines for years now," snarled Luffy.

She remembered vividly how Ace died in the series. Blackbeard had weakened him enough for the Marines to capture him, and the second they found out who's son Ace was his execution became their highest priority.

Complete silence and condemnation.

"He's working with the Marines?" said Ace in disgust.

"How else do you explain them releasing prisoners from Impel Down to act as his crew?" said Luffy.

Viper had already informed her which pirates used to be prisoners and Luffy named each of them. Those with Devil fruit powers had a seastone shoved down their throats, making them weak enough to take out. The others had been beaten up too badly to really put up a proper fight.

It wouldn't take much to direct the pirates around them to the old wanted posters and to look up where those men had been before they realized Luffy was telling the truth.

Luffy pounded her right fist into her left hand.

"Besides... this is the perfect way to get on the good side of Whitebeard enough that he'd be willing to ally himself with us later," said Luffy cheerfully.

That wasn't _why_ she was doing it, but it would give a lot of the more idiotic pirates from getting _ideas_.

Teach was boned and he had no idea how badly.

Ace felt a particular amount of satisfaction killing Teach. Viper felt no little amount of glee at the amount of money she was going to get turning in the bounties for a little bit of work...with a small cut going to her daughter of course.

* * *

Luffy felt relief knowing Teach was dead and thus couldn't betray Ace to the Marines. It meant they had a bit of leeway when it came to canon events.

Even if it meant parting with Ace and the others until they managed to cross paths again, it was soooo worth it after killing Teach and his band of psychos.

On an unrelated note Nami pretty much forgave her mother for leaving her with Bellemere after Viper showed her daughter how to create massive 'mist pockets' to hold obscene amounts of gold until they could turn it into something that wasn't nearly as bulky and still as valuable.

Considering they were heading to Skypiea next, that was a good thing as Luffy remembered _vividly_ that there was a large amount of gold up there and there was no way they would have been able to carry even a fraction of it otherwise.

She did feel somewhat sorry for the salvager.

"You're telling me the other half of Jaya got hit with the Knockback Stream into the sky?!"

"You have a better explanation for what happened that fits the general area?" she deadpanned. "One day it was here, the next it disappeared without a trace, leaving clear evidence _something_ happened. If it can knock up massive ships, then who's to say part of the island _didn't_ get hit by the full brunt of the stream?"

He rubbed his beard.

"That...makes a terrifying amount of sense _and_ is plausible enough that people might actually believe it."

"If nothing else I could easily call Shanks or Gramps to have them confirm there _is_ an island up in the sky. Honestly, this is the Grand Line...is it _that_ hard to believe one might exist considering the number of strange tales that exist? Anyone who claims it's a fairy tale is just a loser who's too lazy to find out if it's true," said Luffy flatly.

Seeing the smile on his face, Luffy grinned.

"Tell you what. When we get up there I'm going to make a point to ring that bell that your ancestor saw just to prove I'm telling the truth."

"...I'll hold you up to that."


	21. Chapter 21

"Luffy, I hate you right now," said Nami, once she started to calm down over the shock of literally _flying_ upward in the sky to the cloud.

"Shishishi. Would it help if I said I knew for a fact there's going to be enough gold to make even your greedy little heart happy by the time we leave the island?"

"And suddenly I hate you a lot less. How much gold?" said Nami, eyes gleaming.

"Enough to pay for a new ship and to hopefully repair the _Merry Go_ so that it can be used for smaller supply runs and the like," said Luffy without hesitation. "Remember what it said in that book how Noland found an island of treasure? And how it disappeared without a trace?"

"Yes...?" said Nami. Nearby Robin paid equal interest in the conversation.

"Well what happened is that the island got hit with the full blast of the same stream we just used and it sent it up into the same area as the Sky island. That's why no one has seen it since. Which means there's a strong chance we'll find an undiscovered ruins filled with so much treasure there's no way the _Merry_ could possibly carry all of it."

"That is surprisingly plausible and neatly explains how it disappeared so quickly considering there's no volcanic activity in the area or rough waves," said Robin. She definitely looked interested now.

"Naturally this means those of us with Mist flames will be abusing the hell out of the ability to create expanded pockets, if only to carry more gold out...among other things."

Nami was positively gleaming at the thought of carrying away so much gold that their ship couldn't even hold it all.

"By the way Robin, if you want you can borrow one of my cameras so you can examine the ruins in more detail long after we leave this place," said Luffy.

Robin blinked.

"What do you mean 'one of your cameras'?" she asked.

Luffy pulled out a rather beaten up camera from her Mist pocket. It wasn't particularly fancy but it did have a few features she knew Robin would appreciate.

Specifically the fact it could take a beating and could print things within a minute or two. She took a picture of the area around them, waited for the picture to come out and flipped it around a bit until it developed.

"Tada! Our first picture of Sky Island! Best of all as long as Daemon is with you he can bring up images from the ruins so you can do a three dimensional walk through, even if it's not as accurate as a picture because of human perception."

Robin smiled warmly at that. She knew she liked her captain for a reason.

Luffy was having a blast and abusing her camera as much as possible. Most of the crew had been unaware of her knack for photography, so it was rather amusing to see their captain document their adventure so openly.

However nothing compared to seeing the _actual_ Skypiea.

Luffy kept silent for the most part about the so-called Kami. By this point most of her crew had a basic grounding in Observation Haki and Armament Haki, as well as a decent understanding of Flames. Once the situation became known to them, she would alert them that it was time to pull out the stops to insure they didn't get too badly beaten up by the end.

* * *

 _On Skypiea_

Luffy felt empathy for Conis and her father. And then she heard a bit of information that had those who reincarnated perk up quite a bit.

"So you're saying the best way to get our friends back is to gain the help of the Crow?" said Luffy.

"The Crow is the strongest fighter on the island. Even the kami tends to avoid him, because he once defeated the priests and made it clear that if he was disturbed from his nap again he would take all of them out," said Conis. "However he doesn't like dealing with others which is why the Kami is still in power."

"What does he look like?" asked Takeshi with interest.

"He has short black hair not unlike Luffy's, steel gray eyes, and he wields a pair of sticks so expertly that no one has been able to defeat him. Oh, and he has a rather adorable bird companion that always sings a strange song and is never far from him. The only one who can get close to him at all is Tetsu, though no one is certain what their relationship is."

Implying Conis and the others thought this Crow and Tetsu were in a romantic relationship, but no one was brave enough to say anything about it.

"What's the name of the bird?" asked Takeshi.

After all, I-Pin and Fuuta were on the ship with Robin, Nami, Nojiko, Chopper and Zoro so there wasn't too much to worry about.

"Hibird," said Conis.

Suddenly an evil gleam appeared in Luffy's eyes.

"Hibird, you say?" said Luffy. "You know I think we _will_ be paying this Crow a visit first to see if he is interested in helping us."

Lambo and Takeshi shared a grin with Luffy.

Kyouya was about to be in for a big surprise.

 _An hour later..._

"Annoying herbivore, for disturbing my nap I will bite you to death," snarled Crow. Nearby, Tetsu sighed.

Luffy cackled.

"Catch me if you can, crow-boy!" cackled Luffy.

"Is she going to be alright?" asked Conis with concern.

"Nah, Luffy is just having fun. Her special power makes her immune to blunt force trauma and she has the advantage over the Crow!" laughed Takeshi.

In that she was already aware of his fighting style, whereas she had spent several years upgrading her own.

For the next fifteen minutes, Crow attempted to cave Luffy's head in only for her evade at the last second or block it with more skill than he expected.

"Hn. You're far more interesting than that fake kami, herbivore," said Crow, a hint of respect in his eyes.

Luffy's eyes gleamed. Now was the perfect time to blindside the crabby teen.

"I'm glad you think so, _Hibari-sempai_. Fon is going to be thrilled when he finds out you're here too. And with such a cute pair of wings to boot!"

The Crow, or rather Hibari Kyouya, widened his eyes in shock...and recognition.

"Omnivore?" he said carefully.

Luffy wrapped her flames around him in an odd hug and Kyouya's body relaxed as he felt at home for the first time since being reborn.

"By the way Dino and Xanxus are here as well. I know for a fact there's a lot of fun people to bite to death on the blue sea so if you're interested you can join our crew," siad Luffy cheerfully. "Kusakabe too."

"Hmph...acceptable Omnivore."

"Mind helping us rescue the rest of the crew from that idiot who calls himself god?" asked Luffy.

Kyouya slid his tonfas into their holders and easily followed Luffy to the others. Conis was staring in absolute shock.

No one had ever earned the respect of the Crow to the point he would follow them like that before! Not even the kami had ever earned the warrior's loyalty! Just who was Luffy?

"I-Pin is going to be thrilled to see her big brother again," said Luffy.

"Hi Kyouya-nii!" said Lambo grinning.

"Good to have you on our team again, Hibari-sempai!" said Takeshi.

"Who else is here?" asked Kusakabe.

"Dino, Romario, Xanxus, Belphegor, Lussuria and all of the Arcobaleno save for the Sky from what I was told. We have Takeshi, Lambo, I-Pin, Fuuta and myself on the _Merry Go,_ " said Luffy. "I-Pin and Fuuta were on the ship when it was taken by that overgrown crustacean. Oh, and Daemon who's with Robin at the moment."

Kyouya froze.

"Daemon as in _Daemon Spade_?" growled Kyouya.

"Don't forget the Vindice, who run the Marine's prison," chirped Luffy.

"...You owe me a proper fight when we leave, Omnivore," said Kyouya flatly.

"Can do~! You're going to love playing with Zoro," said Luffy grinning. "Shishishi."

* * *

 _On the Merry Go_

I-Pin and Fuuta had a strange feeling go down their spines.

"Luffy-nee found another one," said Fuuta confidently.

"It feels like two. Who do you think she found this time?" asked I-Pin.

"Mukuro-nii and Chrome maybe?" said Fuuta dubiously.

"I bet it's Kyouya-nii and Tetsu!" said I-Pin.

"Want to bet on it?" asked Nami.

"I bet the next week's chore ration she found Mukuro and Chrome," said Fuuta.

"Kyouya-nii and Tetsu!" said I-Pin.

"Alright, whoever loses has to do the bulk of the chores for the next week," said Robin amused.

" _...I put a week's worth of pranks on the Alaude-lookalike and his right hand,"_ said Daemon.

I-Pin beamed at the ghost.

"What makes you say that?" asked Fuuta pouting.

" _I don't sense either of those oddball Mists she had before on the island,"_ replied Daemon.

"I guess if anyone could pick up on those two, it would be you," said Fuuta. I-Pin looked happy that there was a strong chance she would see Kyouya again.

* * *

Luffy looked at her crew, or half of it at least.

"Everyone, when we get to the 'Upper Yard', I want you to use your ability to the fullest. This so called Kami has partially unlocked Observation Haki, as have his 'priests'. Kyouya, I have only one order...I want you to bite this Eneru and his men to death as much as you want. Anyone else we encounter, you are free to maim or dispose of at your discretion. But I do not want this kami or his men to make it out of the Upper Yard alive."

"...Does this have anything to do with the fact you read up to the Saoboady arc?" asked Takeshi.

"Eneru plans to destroy Skypiea and is an ass," said Luffy. "Our goal is to rescue our friends and deal with him permanently, or at least create an opening for me to take him out. To that end feel free to carry a spare piece of fruit with you once we're in."

"Why?" asked Tetsu.

"Devil Fruits have a habit of leaving their owner upon death and entering the first piece of fruit they find. I don't think the people here would appreciate one of their own accidentally getting Eneru's powers because they bit into a Devil Fruit."

Kyouya smirked.

His Omnivore had become more sneaky since their rebirth in this world. If she had shown a bit more spine he would have shown more interest in her as a possible mate. Sadly she never had the chance with all the chains the fake carnivores kept placing around her neck.

He almost wanted to purr when she carded her hand through his hair. Sanji raised an eyebrow at the action but kept his silence.

Hibird began to sing the song Kyouya had taught him rather cheerfully. His Master had found the person he missed so much and would soon be part of a proper flock. All was right in the world of Hibird.

Clearing the challenge to reach the _Merry Go_ was almost comically easy. The second the fat priest say Kyouya he started sweating bullets.

"How in the name of Eneru did you get _him_ to help you?!" he demanded.

"Shishishi... That...is a secret!" cackled Luffy. "That being said, Kyouya-nii you have free reign to bite this weakling to death so we can get to the real fun."

Kyouya's grin was _vicious_ , and Satori almost pissed himself from fear.

He _definitely_ hadn't forgotten the beating the Crow had given him five years ago, or that his Mantra had been absolutely useless against the relentless assault of the teen.

All because the Crow had taken offense to the fact their laws had interrupted his nap and almost cost him his friend Tetsu. Eneru had to make a special exception to keep the brat from coming after them again!

He was so screwed.

 _One short beatdown later..._

"That was boring, Omnivore."

"How is it my fault these idiots didn't properly train after getting a position of power? They rely too much on Eneru's devil fruit and their Observation Haki," said Luffy dismissively.

"Observation Haki?" said Tetsu.

"They call it Mantra up here. Basically it allows people with training to have a heightened awareness of the area around them like a sensory ability. The better you are at it, the more area you can cover to the point it would make someone like Kyouya-nii absolutely terrifying even while napping. There's also Armament Haki, which I will be teaching you and Kyouya-nii once we're out of here because it lets you hit those with Devil Fruits when no one else can...in order words he can bite someone made purely out of fire or water to death regardless of their ability to control their devil fruit power."

Kyouya's grin was absolutely terrifying hearing that. Tetsu...looked more resigned than anything.

* * *

 _In the New World, with Fon..._

When the Den Den Mushi started ringing, Fon was the first to pick it up thinking it was Viper or possibly I-Pin.

It wasn't.

" _Hi, is this Feng?"_

Fon smirked. He recognized Tsunami's new voice rather quickly.

"It is. I take it you found something of interest?"

" _Smiling carnivore, for failing to find me first I will bite you to death,"_ growled a voice.

Fon's heart nearly stopped.

"Kyouya?" he asked, not daring to hope.

" _You'll never believe where we found him. Turns out he was on Sky Island this whole time...and he has the most adorable wings! They're so fluffy!"_ cackled Luffy.

"Wait...you mean to tell me the entire reason I was never able to track him down was because he was on one of the Sky islands?!" said Fon in disbelief.

Oddly enough, that made far more sense than it didn't. Of course Kyouya's soul would gravitate to the clouds where he could enjoy his nap in peace without the Blue Sea dwellers waking him up trying to bother him!

" _Kusakabe is here too with Hibird. But I thought you would enjoy finding out where your favorite Cloud was,"_ said Luffy.

"Now all you'll need is your Sun and Storm to complete the set," joked Fon.

" _I highly doubt Ryohei is even here, let alone Hayato. If we do find either of them I will be genuinely surprised,"_ said Luffy. _"Of course now when we meet up with you all I'm sure a certain Skylark will happily come after you with intent to cave your head in."_

"I'm looking forward to it," said Fon, smiling widely.

He had Kyouya and I-Pin back, and Viper would be home soon too. There was very little that could ruin his good mood at the moment.


End file.
